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on Cultural Economics |
| By: | Charlin, Ventura; Cifuentes, Arturo |
| Abstract: | This paper introduces a new financial metric for the art market. The metric, which we call Artistic Power Value (APV), is based on the price per unit of area (dollars per square centimeter) and is applicable to two-dimensional art objects such as paintings. In addition to its intuitive appeal and ease of computation, this metric has several advantages from the investor’s viewpoint. For example, it makes it easy to: (i) estimate price ranges for different artists; (ii) perform comparisons among them; (iii) follow the evolution of the artists’ creativity cycle overtime; and (iiii) compare, for a single artist, paintings with different subjects or different geometric properties. Additionally, the APV facilitates the process of estimating total returns. Finally, due to its transparency, the APV can be used to design derivatives-like instruments that can appeal to both, investors and speculators. Several examples validate this metric and demonstrate its usefulness. |
| Keywords: | Art markets Hedonic pricing Paintings Auction prices Alternative Investments |
| JEL: | A12 C23 G11 G12 Z1 |
| Date: | 2013–09–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:50186&r=cul |
| By: | Martyna Kobus (Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw); Michał Krawczyk (Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw) |
| Abstract: | We consider a monopolist producer of information goods that may be subject to unauthorized copying. The key feature of our model is that we allow consumers to have ethical concerns based on equity theory that may reduce their utility of such a copy. We derive the formulas describing demand for the product. We find that piracy reduces prices and producers' profit, an effect that can be limited by such measures as copyright enforcement (proxied by expected value of punishment for piracy) and anti-piracy campaigns. Welfare effects are also analyzed and generally turn out to be ambiguous. |
| Keywords: | digital piracy, copyright protection, equity theory |
| JEL: | D42 K42 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:war:wpaper:2013-22&r=cul |
| By: | Yann Algan; Thierry Mayer; Mathias Thoenig |
| Abstract: | This paper aims at studying how economic incentives influence cultural transmission. We do so in the context of naming decisions, a crucial expression of cultural identity. Our focus is on Arabic versus Non- Arabic names given by parents to their newborn babies in France over the 2003-2007 period. Our model of cultural transmission disentangles between three determinants: (i) vertical transmission of parental culture; (ii) horizontal influence from the neighborhood; (iii) economic penalty associated with names that sound culturally distinctive. Our identification is based on the sample of households being exogenously allocated across public housings dwellings. We find that economic incentives largely influence naming choices: In the absence of economic penalty, the annual number of babies born with an Arabic name would have been more than 50 percent larger. Our theory-based estimates allow us to perform a welfare analysis where we gauge the strength of cultural attachment in monetary units. We find that the vertical transmission of an Arabic name provides the same shift in parents’ utility as a 3% rise in lifetime income of the child. |
| Keywords: | Cultural transmission;Choice of first names |
| JEL: | D10 |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cii:cepidt:2013-25&r=cul |
| By: | Pascali, Luigi (Department of Economics, University of Warwick) |
| Abstract: | Are differences in local banking development long-lasting? Do they affect long-term economic performance? I answer these questions by relying on an historical development that occurred in Italian cities during the 15th century. A sudden change in the Catholic doctrine had driven the Jews toward money lending. Cities that were hosting Jewish communities developed complex banking institutions for two reasons: first, the Jews were the only people in Italy who were allowed to lend for a profit and, second, the Franciscan reaction to Jewish usury led to the creation of charity lending institutions, the Monti di Pietà, that have survived until today and have become the basis of the Italian banking system. Using Jewish demography in 1500 as an instrument, I provide evidence of (1) an extraordinary persistence in the level of banking development across Italian cities (2) large effects of current local banking development on per-capita income. Additional firm-level analyses suggest that well-functioning local banks exert large effects on aggregate productivity by reallocating resources toward more efficient firms. I exploit the expulsion of the Jews from the Spanish territories in Italy in 1541 to argue that my results are not driven by omitted institutional, cultural and geographical characteristics. In particular, I show that, in Central Italy, the difference in current income between cities that hosted Jewish communities and cities that did not exists only in those regions that were not Spanish territories in the 16th century. JEL classification: Banks ; Economic development ; Persistence ; Jewish demography JEL codes: O43 ; G21 ; O10 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wrk:warwec:1026&r=cul |