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on Cultural Economics |
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Issue of 2014‒02‒02
nine papers chosen by Roberto Zanola Universita' del Piemonte Orientale Amedeo Avogadro |
| By: | Esmeralda Ramalho (Department of Economics and CEFAGE-UE, Universidade de Évora); Joquim Ramalho (Department of Economics and CEFAGE-UE, Universidade de Évora) |
| Abstract: | Hedonic methods are a prominent approach in the construction of quality-adjusted price indexes. This paper shows that the process of computing such indexes is substantially simplified if arithmetic (geometric) price indexes are computed based on exponential (log-linear) hedonic functions estimated by the Poisson pseudo maximum likelihood (ordinary least squares) method. A Monte Carlo simulation study based on housing data illustrates the convenience of the links identified and the very attractive properties of the Poisson estimator in the hedonic framework. |
| Keywords: | Hedonic price indexes; Quality adjustment; Retransformation; House prices; Exponential regression; Poisson pseudo maximum likelihood. |
| JEL: | C43 C51 E31 R31 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cfe:wpcefa:2014_01&r=cul |
| By: | Peukert, Christian; Claussen, Jörg; Kretschmer, Tobias |
| Abstract: | In this paper we make use of a quasi-experiment in the market for illegal downloading to study movie box office revenues. Exogenous variation comes from the unexpected shutdown of the popular file hosting platform Megaupload.com on January 19, 2012. The estimation strategy is based on a quasi difference-in-differences approach. We compare box office revenues before and after the shutdown to a matched control group of movies unaffected by the shutdown. We find that the shutdown had a negative, yet insignificant effect on box office revenues.This counterintuitive result may suggest support for the theoretical perspective of (social) network effects where file-sharing acts as a mechanism to spread information about a good from consumers with zero or low willingness to pay to users with high willingness to pay. -- |
| JEL: | L50 L82 D83 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc13:79697&r=cul |
| By: | Buettner, T; Janeba, Eckhard |
| Abstract: | Considering data for individual earnings we show that the local subsidization of cultural activities in Germany exerts effects on the wage distribution in the sense that these subsidies tend to reduce the wage gap between those with higher and less education. These findings motivate a theoretical analysis which explains the effects of subsidies in terms of a cross-sectional capitalization into the earnings of the immobile factor. In the theoretical model, the local government is focusing on improving the economic conditions faced by immobile residents. In this context, subsidization of cultural activities is discussed as a form of local public goods provision which makes a city more attractive to highly educated individuals who capture the rents from the production process. The theoretical analysis shows that inter-jurisdictional competition for the highly educated introduces a distortion of public goods provision, in the sense that uncoordinated policies lead to an inefficiently large supply of the public good. Our results suggest that since German local governments are prevented from adjusting their tax structure in a way that meets the efficiency requirements under fiscal competition, they resort to extending the supply of cultural activities through public subsidization. -- |
| JEL: | H20 H41 R13 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc13:79838&r=cul |
| By: | Alan Collins and Jen Snowball |
| Abstract: | Many governments have tried to stimulate economic growth via policy on the creative industries. South Africa is no different but additionally has an overarching aim of achieving social and labour market ‘transformation’ to move away from the legacy of the apartheid era. The effectiveness of incentives provided to the film and television sector in South Africa are considered in terms of their stated objectives of job creation, skills and knowledge transfer and the attraction of foreign direct investment. Informed by empirical analysis of incentive scheme data and supplemented by elite interviews with key informants, some specific policy revisions are proposed. |
| Keywords: | South Africa, transformation, job creation, subsidy, creative industries |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rza:wpaper:401&r=cul |
| By: | Michael Arnold (Department of Economics, University of Delaware, US); Éric Darmon (CREM UMR CNRS 6211, University of Rennes 1, France); Sylvain Dejean (LR-MOS, University of La Rochelle, France); Thierry Pénard (CREM UMR CNRS 6211, University of Rennes 1 & University of Delaware) |
| Abstract: | Most developed countries have tried to restrain digital piracy by strengthening laws against copyright infringement. In 2009, France implemented the Hadopi law. Under this law individuals receive a warning the first two times they are detected illegally sharing content through peer to peer (P2P) networks. Legal action is only taken when a third violation is detected. We analyze the impact of this law on individual behavior. Our theoretical model of illegal behavior under a graduated response law predicts that the perceived probability of detection has no impact on the decision to initially engage in digital piracy, but may reduce the intensity of illegal file sharing by those who do pirate. We test the theory using survey data from French Internet users. Our econometric results indicate that the law has no substantial deterrent eect. In addition, we find evidence that individuals who are better informed about the law and piracy alternatives substitute away from monitored P2P networks and illegally access content through unmonitored channels. |
| Date: | 2014–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tut:cremwp:201401&r=cul |
| By: | Adena, Maja; Enikolopov, Ruben; Petrova, Maria; Santarosa, Veronica; Zhuravskaya, Ekaterina |
| Abstract: | How far can media undermine democratic institutions and how persuasive can it be in assuring public support for dictator policies? We study this question in the context of Germany before World War II, between 1929 and 1939. First, we estimate the impact of radio signal on voting for the Nazi party before and after Nazi got control over the content of the broadcast. Prior to Hitler s appointment as chancellor, the radio, broadcasting cultural programs and some political news with an anti-Nazi slant, had a substantial negative effect on voting for the Nazi party. This negative effect was fully undone in just one month before the last competitive pre-war election following Hitler s appointment in 1933, which resulted in the change of radio content to heavy pro-Nazi propaganda. In the last few months that Germany remained democracy, the persuasion power of pro-Nazi propaganda was smaller than that of the anti-Nazi radio. Second, we examine the impact of the radio after Nazi fully consolidated power. Radio propaganda helped Nazi to enroll new party members and encouraged denunciations of Jews and other open expressions of anti-Semitism. Radio was most effective as propaganda tool when combined with other tools, such as Hitler s speeches, and when the message was more aligned with listeners priors as measured by historical variation in anti-Semitism. -- |
| JEL: | D72 L82 P26 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc13:79876&r=cul |
| By: | Falck, Oliver; Bauernschuster, Stefan |
| Abstract: | Friedrich Froebel, a German pedagogue, established the first kindergarten worldwide in Thuringia in 1839. We study the spatial dissemination of the kindergarten movement in Germany in the 19th and beginning of the 20th century. Spatial dissemination can be explained by the cultural proximity, measured by dialect similarity at the end of the 19th century, to Froebel s place of activity. We further show that the spatial pattern of child care use is highly persistent over time. End of 19th century cultural proximity to Froebel s place of activity can explain the spatial pattern of child care use in the 1990s and 2000s. -- |
| JEL: | N33 J13 Z13 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc13:79704&r=cul |
| By: | OECD |
| Abstract: | Connected televisions are defined for the purposes of this report as devices that have the capability to interact with the Internet to display audio-visual content. Connected television is an important development because it permits the provision of certain new and valuable services to end-users. These services will also have implications for the activities of all of the players in the content distribution ecosystem. In addition to identifying the new services that connected television enables, the report analyses in some detail their effects on networks (i.e. the physical communication links that carry content to end-users). The impact on content producers themselves, on content distributors (such as traditional pay television companies), on hardware vendors, and on providers of support services such as advertising and programme guides is considered much more briefly. More detailed examination of these matters could be the subject of future work. The report also includes a discussion of policy implications raised by connected televisions for the actual connected television devices and for network infrastructure. |
| Date: | 2014–01–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:stiaab:231-en&r=cul |
| By: | Sieg, Gernot; Rothbauer, Jula |
| Abstract: | A welfare-maximizing Public Service Broadcaster (PSB) broadcasts both information-type and show-type content if (i) the information consumption of TV viewers generates external benefits for society by improving the ability of voters to control politicians and (ii) the marginal external benefits of information consumption diminish as the information possessed by voters increases. We analyze a two-sided free-to-air TV market with two differentiated private channels and a commercial-free PSB. Welfare depends on the efficiency of the PSB, the external benefits of voter information, and lost rents from the advertising market. Welfare can be higher without a PSB. -- |
| JEL: | L82 D72 L32 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc13:79800&r=cul |