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on Cultural Economics |
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Issue of 2014‒07‒13
eight papers chosen by Roberto Zanola Universita' del Piemonte Orientale Amedeo Avogadro |
| By: | Thomas Y. Powers |
| Abstract: | Asset pricers generally study the pricing of secondary market securities. Using a proprietary, project-level dataset on the film industry, I am able to study a cross-section of expected returns on real investments instead. One area in which we might expect differences is in the pricing of idiosyncratic risk. I find that expected returns are both increasing and concave in the idiosyncratic dollar variance of a film's payoff. Plotting expected returns against dollar volatility yields an approximately linear relationship, in which a $1 MM increase in volatility raises expected return by at least 43 basis points, up to as much as 116 basis points depending on the specification. I discuss several theories from corporate finance that can rationalize the pricing of idiosyncratic risk, and I build a matching model between studios and films in which costly external finance can explain both facts. |
| Date: | 2014–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qsh:wpaper:176011&r=cul |
| By: | Ileana Miranda Mendoza (Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne); François Gardes (Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne - Paris School of Economics); Xavier Greffe (Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne); Pierre-Charles Pradier (SAMM et PHARE) |
| Abstract: | The market for autographs has become more open to international buyers since 1990. Our data set features a large sample of store and auction sales for selected authors every five years from 1960 to 2005. The estimation of a hedonic price function shows that page count, type of author, date and type of the document, together with consumer and assets price indices explain more than one half of the price differences. Authors whho are more often sold at auctions (hence more likely to attract international demand) carry a 28% premium when sold in stores. The autographs (real) price increased by 222% during the period, while the hedonic price increased by 190%. With growing correlation between French autograph prices and art market index, as well as a supply function responsive to market valuation and trends, the French autograph market has become more integrated in the global art market since the 1990's. |
| Keywords: | Autographs, Hedonic prices, Hedonic price function, Globalization. |
| JEL: | B41 C13 C32 D46 Z10 Z11 |
| Date: | 2014–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mse:cesdoc:14053&r=cul |
| By: | Ruben van Loon (VU University Amsterdam); Tom Gosens (VU University Amsterdam); Jan Rouwendal (VU University Amsterdam) |
| Abstract: | Many cities are trying to attract tourists by investing in urban amenities. Cultural heritage is an important example and substantial investments are needed to keep ancient inner cities and characteristic monumental buildings in good shape. The costs of these policies are usually clear, the benefits are often much more difficult to assess. This paper attempts to fill part of this gap by studying the destination choices of urban recreation trips that have urban recreation as the main travel motive. We estimate a discrete choice model for destination choice that takes into account the potential importance of unobserved characteristics. The model allows us to compute the marginal willingness to travel for destinations offering more cultural heritage, which we measure as the area of the inner city that has a protected status because of the cultural heritage that is present there. |
| Keywords: | Cultural heritage, recreation, city marketing |
| JEL: | C31 D12 R12 R22 L83 |
| Date: | 2014–04–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:uvatin:20140049&r=cul |
| By: | Zhiling Wang; Thomas de Graaff; and Peter Nijkamp (VU University Amsterdam) |
| Abstract: | This study analyses the impact of cultural composition on regional attractiveness from the perspective of migrant sorting behaviour. We use an attitudinal survey to quantify cultural distances between natives and immigrants in the area concerned, and estimate the migrants’ varying preferences for both cultural diversity and cultural distance. To account for regional unobserved heterogeneity, our econometric analysis employs artificial instrumental variables, as developed by Bayer et al. (2004). The main conclusions are twofold. On the one hand, cultural diversity increases regional attractiveness. On the other hand, average cultural distance greatly weakens regional attractiveness, even when the presence of network effect is controlled for. |
| Keywords: | migration, cultural diversity, cultural distance, destination choice, sorting |
| JEL: | R2 Z1 |
| Date: | 2014–06–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:uvatin:20140066&r=cul |
| By: | Arribas-Bel, Daniel (University of Birmingham); Nijkamp, Peter (VU University Amsterdam); Poot, Jacques (University of Waikato) |
| Abstract: | Cultural diversity is a complex and multi-faceted concept. Commonly used quantitative measures of the spatial distribution of culturally-defined groups – such as segregation, isolation or concentration indexes – are often only capable of identifying just one aspect of this distribution. The strengths or weaknesses of any measure can only be comprehensively assessed empirically. This paper provides evidence on the empirical properties of various spatial measures of cultural diversity by using Monte Carlo replications of agent-based modeling (MC-ABM) simulations with synthetic data assigned to a realistic and detailed geographical context of the city of Amsterdam. Schelling's classical segregation model is used as the theoretical engine to generate patterns of spatial clustering. The data inputs include the initial population, the number and shares of various cultural groups, and their preferences with respect to co-location. Our MC-ABM data generating process produces output maps that enable us to assess the performance of various spatial measures of cultural diversity under a range of demographic compositions and preferences. We find that, as our simulated city becomes more diverse, stable residential location equilibria are only possible when people, particularly minorities, become more tolerant. We test whether observed measures can be interpreted as revealing unobserved preferences for co-location of individuals with their own group and find that the segregation and isolation measures of spatial diversity are shown to be non-decreasing in increasing preference for within-group co-location, but the Gini coefficient and concentration measures are not. |
| Keywords: | cultural diversity, spatial segregation, agent-based model, Monte Carlo simulation |
| JEL: | C63 J15 R23 Z13 |
| Date: | 2014–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8251&r=cul |
| By: | Anastasia Litina (CREA, Université de Luxembourg); Simone Moriconi (Università Cattolica di Milano, Italy); Skerdilajda Zanaj (CREA, Université de Luxembourg) |
| Abstract: | This paper theoretically and empirically advances the hypothesis that differences in environmental preferences can be traced to cultural differences. In particular, we argue that environmental attitudes such as the willingness to pay for the environment are not solely the effect of local environmental conditions on individual attitudes. On the contrary, we establish that they can also be accounted for by cultural differences accross countries. To establish our hypothesis we exploit the natural experiment of international migration flows and establish that the environmental culture of migrants, as has been formed in their country of origin and transmitted accross generations, is still prevalent in the host country. Interestingly these culture differences with respect to environmental awareness are prevalent despite the fact that all migrants in a host country are exposed to the same local environment. In the presence of multiple environmental problems that require collective action, comprehending the driving forces behind the formation of an environmental culture, a potential driver of environmental policies, is critical. |
| Keywords: | Cultural Transmission, Migration, Environmental Preferences |
| JEL: | Q50 Q58 R23 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:luc:wpaper:14-12&r=cul |
| By: | Jellal, Mohamed |
| Abstract: | We integrate a general social norm function which associates status to accumulation of capital and consumption into a very simple model of endogenous growth. We show that societies which place a greater cultural weight on capital as opposed to consumption preferences will experience fast growth. Our results are consistent with those obtained by Baumol(1990) in the context of entrepreneurship and by Fershtman and Weiss (1991). |
| Keywords: | Cultural incentives, social status, endogenous growth |
| JEL: | A13 O1 O43 Z13 |
| Date: | 2014–07–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:57178&r=cul |
| By: | Yamamura, Eiji; Sabatini, Fabio |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the role of mass media in people’s perceptions of charismatic leaders, focusing on the case of Junichiro Koizumi, Prime Minister of Japan from 2001 to 2006. Using survey data collected immediately after Koizumi’s 2005 landslide electoral victory, this study empirically assesses the influence of television (TV) and newspapers on individuals’ support for Koizumi and for the most distinctive policy action he announced during his campaign—the privatization of the postal service. The major findings are: (1) the frequency of exposure to mass media is positively related to the support for Koizumi but not for his principal policy and (2) a significant impact of TV is only observed among women. The habit of reading newspapers only slightly correlates with men’s support for Koizumi.. Our study’s results suggest that compared to a political platform, charisma and attractiveness wield a greater influence on TV watchers of the opposite sex. Television apparently works as a powerful amplifier of leaders’ appealing attributes. The resulting superstar effect may allow a charismatic candidate to win an election, even though his main agenda item (i.e., postal privatization) is strongly opposed by special interest groups and members of the ruling party. -- |
| Keywords: | mass media,television,newspapers,election,Koizumi,Japan,voting behavior,social norms,social capital,superstar effect |
| JEL: | D72 L88 L82 Z13 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:esprep:98661&r=cul |