nep-cul New Economics Papers
on Cultural Economics
Issue of 2010‒12‒11
five papers chosen by
Roberto Zanola
University Amedeo Avogadro

  1. Why Consumers Pay Voluntarily: Evidence from Online Music By Tobias Regner
  2. The Economic Returns to the Knowledge and Use of a Second Official Language: English in Quebec and French in the Rest-of-Canada By Louis N. Christofides; Robert Swidinsky
  3. Park Visitation, Constraints, and Satisfaction: A Meta-Analysis By Hristos Doucouliagos; John Hall
  4. Building a "creative culture" for sustainable innovation By Miller, Paddy; Brankovic, Azra
  5. Culture and development: the continuing tension between modern standards and local contexts. By Yousfi, Hèla

  1. By: Tobias Regner (Max Planck Institute of Economics, Jena)
    Abstract: Customers at the online music label Magnatune can pay what they want for albums, as long as the payment is within a given price range ($5-$18). Magnatune recommends to pay $8, and on average customers paid $8.20 (Regner and Barria, 2009). We ran an online survey and collected responses from 227 frequent Magnatune customers to gain insights about the underlying motivations to pay more than necessary. We control for individual response- and sample selection-bias, and find that reciprocity and guilt appear to be the major drivers for generous voluntary payments. Being inclined to follow social norms is a positive determinant for payments around the recommended price.
    Keywords: social preferences, other-regarding behaviour, music industry, reciprocity, guilt, social norms, altruism, fairness, social-image concerns, survey
    JEL: D82 M21 L82 L86
    Date: 2010–11–30
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2010-081&r=cul
  2. By: Louis N. Christofides; Robert Swidinsky
    Abstract: In a country with two official languages, such as Canada, the demand for bilingualism may lead individuals born with one mother tongue to acquire the second official language. Knowledge of an additional official language may be associated with enhanced earnings for two reasons; its actual value in the workplace, or its value as a screening mechanism for ability. Previously available data did not indicate whether bilingual language skills were actually being used at work. However, the 2001 Census reports, for the first time, the primary and the secondary languages that an individual uses at work. Conditioning on both language knowledge and language use allow us to estimate the additional earnings that can be attributed to the use of a second official language. We find very substantial, statistically significant, rewards to second official use in Quebec and much smaller, not statistically significant, effects in the Rest-of-Canada.
    Keywords: Wages, language knowledge, language use
    Date: 2010–02
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucy:cypeua:04-2010&r=cul
  3. By: Hristos Doucouliagos; John Hall
    Date: 2010–12–01
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dkn:econwp:eco_2010_18&r=cul
  4. By: Miller, Paddy (IESE Business School); Brankovic, Azra (IESE Business School)
    Abstract: Innovation has shifted from being about one-off phenomena to being a continuous effort requiring creative engagement and alert responsiveness from organizational actors. As more companies face the need to build a system-wide and sustainable capacity for innovation, creating a "culture of innovation" is becoming a priority. The concept of an "innovation culture" remains undertheorized in the literature, however. We offer a conceptual and practical framework for building an innovation culture in an organization. Specifically, we show how a cultural infrastructure that orients actors in the practices of creativity and improvisation combines with individual meaning-making processes to simultaneously generate innovation and an innovation culture across an organization.
    Keywords: innovation; organizational culture; creativity; improvisation;
    Date: 2010–09–07
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ebg:iesewp:d-0879&r=cul
  5. By: Yousfi, Hèla
    Abstract: Multiple and often competing conceptualizations of culture have offered development thinking both a framework and a vocabulary for distinguishing one group of people from another in terms of their differing systems of meaning, patterns of behaviour, or levels of technology. They have also offered different visions of the relationship between culture and development. However, while these various perspectives diverge on many issues, they also share a common position. They show a persistent difficulty in grasping the articulation between the role of culture (suspected of bringing back “tradition”) and individual autonomy (seen as a condition for a “modern society”). This articulation is critical for the conception of effective development strategies. In this literature review, we “take stock” of the way culture has been conceptualized in development thinking, recognizing and examining the different ways in which culture is said to affect development. Throughout, we will emphasise the need for development thinking to break away from the tradition/modernity dichotomy if more effective policies are to be designed and implemented.
    Keywords: Développement; Culture;
    JEL: O15
    Date: 2010
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ner:dauphi:urn:hdl:123456789/5227&r=cul

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