|
on Cultural Economics |
|
Issue of 2015‒05‒22
nine papers chosen by Roberto Zanola Università degli Studi del Piemonte Orientale “Amedeo Avogadro” |
| By: | Keuschnigg, Marc |
| Abstract: | The mediation of ambiguous markets has been essential to recent developments in economic sociology. Cultural industries provide a valuable testing ground for its perspective of socially influenced market behavior. This article emphasizes the uncertainty of cultural markets and thus the relevance of social valuation in disseminating new releases. I hypothesize that recipients of culture simplify cultural choice by reacting to easily attainable signals of product value. Mechanisms of valuation include product familiarity, peer influence, and expert critique. Focusing on an exemplary cultural market, I confront theoretical implications with data from the German book industry (2001–2006). Panel and cross-section regressions show that, alongside well-defined market segments, separate mechanisms guide consumer behavior. For incumbents’ offerings, prior recognition stabilizes cultural choice and reinforces differences in market success. In the highly ambiguous newcomer segment, imitation and negative media steer audience attention, at times leading to unsatisfactory aggregate outcomes, i.e. ‘bad’ bestsellers. |
| Keywords: | Bestsellers, book market, cultural choice, cultural markets, diffusion, fixed effects individual slopes regression, market mediation, imitation, quantitative content analysis |
| JEL: | D8 L1 Z11 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:63444&r=cul |
| By: | Charlotte Cabane; Adrian Hille; Michael Lechner |
| Abstract: | Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel, this paper analyses the effects of spending part of adolescents’ leisure time on playing music or doing sports, or both. We find that while playing music fosters educational outcomes compared to doing sports, particularly so for girls and children from more highly educated families, doing sports improves subjective health. For educational outcomes, doing both activities appeared to be most successful. The results are subjected to an extensive robustness analysis including instrumental variable estimation and a formal sensitivity analysis of the identifying assumptions, which does not reveal any serious problems. |
| Keywords: | Child development, leisure time activities, matching estimation, SOEP |
| JEL: | C14 D12 I21 J24 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp749&r=cul |
| By: | Kamran Khavarani (None); Parisa Amirmostofian (None) |
| Abstract: | The motivation for this research is to address a major problem in the world of visual arts, with a thundering vibration of mixed and confusing signals, and evaluate the difference between "art" and its opposite, the "personart." Being an architect and a painter for over half a century, I sense humanity is begging for an answer for a simple question: “What is art and what is not art?” The answer to this question was clear during the grand humanistic era of the ancient Achaemenid Empire. "Effective Goodness" was the ONLY value and meaning then. For years since, tastemakers have taken advantage of a prevailing ambiguity. Artfully, they have influenced the minds of the naïve for profit making. They successfully have brainwashed the public, depriving them of the ability to choose freely. As a result, a serious debate of the status of a major controversy has ensued. Recently, Apsden [FT, WEF 2015], notes: "There have been enormous changes in the ecology of the art world in the last 20 years….” [Apsde is right, except for the fact that 20 years is a gross underestimation.] On the one hand, consider the great Hellenic philosopher Socrates view “…meanings cannot be understood without the knowledge of their opposites. On the other hand, Bertold Brecht’s insight that “Art is not a mirror held up to reality but a hammer with which to shape it.” Its resonance is strong, indeed. In balance, art is mastery in a craft (e.g., painting) that reflects universal values and beautifies life. That is the "creation" that is "art," and a hammer with which to shape the reality for the good, sanguine. THE contradictory to art is the “personart,” any kind of production, merely a limited expression of the mind of a person, a group or a specific ideology, lacking mastery and void of universality. They are the "personarts," a mirror held to a limited reality, far from being an art. I propose: “art is only that form of creation that in harmony with universal value emanate positive energy and beautifies life, otherwise it is a ‘personart’.” [Khavarani, 2013] Data abundant. I analyze numerous “personarts,” from a variety of sources, amassed for years. |
| Keywords: | Art for Goodness, Bad Art, Personart |
| JEL: | Z11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sek:iacpro:1003439&r=cul |
| By: | Sousa, Cátia (University of Algarve); Gonçalves, Gabriela (University of Algarve); Cunha, Miguel (Nova Lisbon University) |
| Abstract: | The globalization of markets increasingly requires more and more interaction between people from different cultures. Multiculturalism is a reality that demands diversity in organizations so that they can become more creative and open to change. Cultural intelligence and multicultural personality emerge as the new constructs aimed at enhancing adjustment to culturally diverse environments, particularly to the organizational world. Considering that personality and intelligence traits are deeply influenced by culture, our purpose is to analyze cultural intelligence and multicultural personality in relation to the cultural values proposed by Hofstede. In view of the strong influence exerted by culture on cultural intelligence and multicultural personality, employees are required to further develop these skills and understand the differences related to cultural values. By training employees on these subjects, organizations can develop an effective international management of human resources, denoting attitudes of openness to cultural biodiversity. |
| Keywords: | Cultural Intelligence; Multicultural Personality; Hofstede´s Cultural Values; Multiculturalism |
| Date: | 2015–05–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:cieodp:2015_001&r=cul |
| By: | Slawomir Czetwertynski (Wroclaw University of Economics) |
| Abstract: | This article refers to the phenomenon of peer production in the context of unauthorized copying of information goods. Peer production as says Yochai Benkler is production based on activity of community. It is widely used on the Internet and in its effect there have been created and developed such information goods as GNU Linux and Wikipedia. Although peer production contributes to the growing importance of free software or open source initiative, it is also strongly associated with the spread of unauthorized copying of intellectual property commonly know as Internet piracy. The mass character of this phenomenon - nearly 24% of Internet traffic is unauthorized - can not be underestimated. The hypothesis stands in the article is that a low level of protection against the production of unauthorized copies of intellectual property stems from the fact that they are formed largely in the process of peer production. The objective of the study is to verify this hypothesis in the context of the nature of peer production and unauthorized copying. The research area is limited to file-sharing networks P2P protocol based on BitTorret. |
| Keywords: | peer production, unauthorized copying, intelecttual property, BitTorrent |
| JEL: | D01 D24 O34 |
| Date: | 2015–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pes:wpaper:2015:no128&r=cul |
| By: | Marcus Noland (Peterson Institute for International Economics); Kevin Stahler (Peterson Institute for International Economics) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the growing diversity of participation and achievement in the Olympics. A wide set of socioeconomic variables is correlated with medaling, particularly with respect to the Summer Games and women's events. Host advantage is particularly acute in judged contests such as gymnastics. However, there is evidence that the influence of correlates such as country size, per capita income, and membership in the communist bloc is declining over time as competition becomes increasingly diverse. These effects are less evident in the Winter Games, events that require significant capital investments, and judged contests. |
| Keywords: | women, globalization, sports, Olympics, doping |
| JEL: | J16 L83 Z13 |
| Date: | 2015–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iie:wpaper:wp15-9&r=cul |
| By: | Peter Bönisch; Walter Hyll |
| Abstract: | In this paper we study the effect of television exposure on fertility. We exploit a natural experiment that took place in Germany after WWII. For topographical reasons, Western TV programs, which promoted one/no child families, could not be received in certain parts of East Germany. Using an IV approach, we find robust evidence that watching West German TV results in lower fertility. This conclusion is robust to alternative model specifications and data sets. Our results imply that individual fertility decisions are affected by role models or information about other ways of life promoted by media. |
| Keywords: | Natural experiment; TV consumption; Fertility |
| JEL: | C26 D12 J13 L82 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp752&r=cul |
| By: | Anderson, Simon P; Foros, Øystein; Kind, Hans Jarle |
| Abstract: | Standard models of advertising-financed media assume consumers patronize a single media platform, precluding effective competition for advertisers. Such competition ensues if consumers multi-home. The principle of incremental pricing implies that multi-homing consumers are less valuable to platforms. Then entry of new platforms decreases ad prices, while a merger increases them, and ad-financed platforms may suffer if a public broadcaster carries ads. Platforms may bias content against multi-homing consumers, especially if consumers highly value overlapping content and/or second impressions have low value. |
| Keywords: | genre choice; incremental ad pricing; media bias; media economics; multi-homing; overlap |
| JEL: | D11 D60 L13 |
| Date: | 2015–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:10608&r=cul |
| By: | Frederico Barbosa; Roberto Freitas Filho |
| Abstract: | Este texto trata do financiamento de atividades culturais, qualificando e analisando os argumentos que justificariam a participação do Estado nesse empreendimento. Analisa as críticas que afirmam terem sido as políticas culturais no Brasil deixadas ao mercado em função da primazia dos incentivos fiscais, especialmente da Lei Rouanet. Para responder a esse objetivo, a pesquisa considera a composição dos recursos públicos, privados e os gastos tributários públicos indiretos. O argumento se desdobra na reflexão sobre os fundamentos da legitimidade da participação do Estado no financiamento ao consumo cultural por meio do vale-cultura que, sendo uma forma de incentivo fiscal, estabelece novos argumentos ideológicos e de princípio, expressando a visão de que o Estado deve subsidiar as escolhas individuais dos trabalhadores no que se refere às preferências de consumo de bens culturais. Finalmente, trata de um terceiro tema que é o da qualidade do fluxo de execução orçamentária de órgãos públicos. Nesse caso, a hipótese é de que boa parte da energia despendida em críticas de princípio dirigidas aos mercados poderia ser redirecionada ao esforço de reformar o próprio Estado. Há muitos problemas no processo de decisão pública a respeito do orçamento e de sua execução. São necessárias fortes iniciativas para ajustar montantes de recursos financeiros às necessidades culturais, mas também para melhorar a qualidade do processo de gasto. This paper deals with the funding of cultural activities, describing and analyzing the arguments that justify the State’s participation in this funding. It analyzes the critics who claim to have been the cultural policies in Brazil left to the market due to the primacy of tax incentives, part of the Rouanet Law. To meet this objective it analyzes the composition of public and private resources and public indirect tax expenditures. The argument unfolds in the reflection on the legitimacy foundations of the state’s participation on funding cultural consumption via “Culture Tickets”, which is a form of tax incentives, establishing new ideological and principled arguments, expressing the view that the state should subsidize the members of the working class individual choices in relation to the preferences of consumption of cultural goods. Finally, a third aspect is the quality of budget execution flow of the public body. In this case, our hypothesis is that much of the energy expended in criticizing questions of general principles like the preference for the market could be redirected into an effort to reform the state itself. There are many problems in the public decision making process about the state budget and its implementation. Strong initiatives are needed to adjust the amounts of financial resources to cultural needs, but also to improve the quality of the spending process. |
| Date: | 2015–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipe:ipetds:2083&r=cul |