|
on Cultural Economics |
|
Issue of 2016‒01‒03
six papers chosen by Roberto Zanola Università degli Studi del Piemonte Orientale |
| By: | Daniel Miles-Touya (RGEA, Universidad de Vigo); Máximo Rossi (Departamento de Economía, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad de la República) |
| Abstract: | In this empirical paper we attempt to measure the separate influence on civic engagement of educational attainment and cultural transmission of civic attitudes. Unlike most of the previous empirical works on this issue, we are able to observe both individuals' educational attainment and the transmission of civic attitudes. We observe that civic returns to education are overstated when the transmission of civic attitudes is ignored. Moreover, the transmission of civic attitudes significantly enhances civic involvement and reinforces civic returns to education (the interactions are significant). |
| Keywords: | returns to education, cultural transmission |
| JEL: | I20 H80 |
| Date: | 2015–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ude:wpaper:0715&r=cul |
| By: | Eliana La Ferrara |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the potential use of entertainment media programs for achieving development goals. I propose a simple framework for interpreting media effects that hinges on three channels: (i) information provision, (ii) role modeling and preference change, and (iii) time use. I then review the existing evidence on how exposure to commercial television and radio affects outcomes such as fertility preferences, gender norms, education, migration and social capital. I complement these individual country studies with cross-country evidence from Africa and with a more in-depth analysis for Nigeria, using the Demographic Health Surveys. I then consider the potential educational role of entertainment media, starting with a discussion of the psychological underpinnings and then reviewing recent rigorous evaluations of edutainment programs. I conclude by highlighting open questions and avenues for future research. |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:igi:igierp:564&r=cul |
| By: | Raphael Bruce; Rafael Costa Lima |
| Abstract: | Do people acquire more information when they are encouraged to participate in elections? This paper presents empirical evidence on the effects of compulsory voting laws on the consumption of TV news. In Brazil, the law determines that every literate citizen over the age of eighteen at the day of the election is subject to a number of penalties if they don't attend the ballots. This provides a natural experiment which allows us to identify the causal effect of being under a compulsory voting regime on information acquisition. Using national survey data on the consumption of media we find that compulsory voting has a significant and substantial positive impact on the probability of an individual to watch Brazil's main newscast. This result is restricted to young voters who just turned eighteen and is robust to different polynomials and bandwidth lengths. |
| Keywords: | Compulsory voting; Regression Discontinuity Design; Media; News |
| JEL: | D72 D83 L82 |
| Date: | 2015–12–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:spa:wpaper:2015wpecon48&r=cul |
| By: | Gavazza, Alessandro; Nardotto, Mattia; Valletti, Tommaso |
| Abstract: | We empirically study the effects of broadband internet diffusion on local election outcomes and on local government policies using rich data from the U.K. Our analysis suggests that the internet has displaced other media with greater news content (i.e., radio and newspapers), thereby decreasing voter turnout, most notably among less-educated and younger individuals. In turn, local government expenditures (and taxes) are lower in areas with greater broadband diffusion, particularly expenditures targeted at less-educated voters. Our findings corroborate the idea that voters' information plays a key role in determining electoral participation, government policies and government size. |
| Keywords: | media; voting |
| JEL: | D72 |
| Date: | 2015–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:10991&r=cul |
| By: | Brad R. Humphreys (West Virginia University, Department of Economics); Joshua C. Hall (West Virginia University, Department of Economics); Hyunwoong Pyun (West Virginia University, Department of Economics) |
| Abstract: | Sports economics is a young, growing field in the discipline of economics. An examination of course catalogs at 169 national liberal arts colleges and 254 national universities uncovered undergraduate sports economics classes offered at 17% of the liberal arts colleges and 29.5% of the universities. The characteristics of colleges and universities offering sports economics courses are analyzed. The state of the undergraduate curriculum in economics and barriers to the creation of new elective course offerings are also discussed. |
| Keywords: | sports economics, undergraduate education, elective course offerings |
| Date: | 2015–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wvu:wpaper:15-49&r=cul |
| By: | Michela Martinoia; Tomaso Pompili |
| Abstract: | Empirical analyses highlight local structural features (territorial capital) as constraints on regional growth and interregional convergence processes, but scant attention is devoted to traditional localised resources and specifically the natural and cultural heritage. However, no heritage provides value by itself: only the application of know-how embodied in human capital achieves this. Specifically, natural and cultural heritage becomes economically relevant through human capital acting through tourist, recreational and cultural activities. Also because of its service exporting nature, tourism is believed to contribute to economic growth and job creation similarly to manufacturing; nevertheless, theoretical and empirical literature concerned manufacturing and rarely studied tourism or extended results to it. Besides, tourism is the market activity most favouring policentricity in Europe: apparently, tourism brings territorial cohesion and equity, although its most dynamic component (culture, events) favours metropolitan locations. However, heritage valorisation responding to tourist service demand may have adverse effects on development (congestion) and significant impacts on environmental quality and on resource consumption (heritage dissipation); these partly offsets strictly economic benefits and over time they weaken the destination’s pull, hence its value and its population’s welfare. Our goal is to explore the role of territorial capital, and specifically of intangibles such as the natural and cultural capital, in regional growth processes and in local response processes to exogenous crises. To this end we aim at achieving the following objectives: i) developing the theoretical framework of territorial capital, highlighting the role of immobile resources in local economic growth and in its spatial differentials, and the role of human capital in resource valorisation; ii) building a national database of territorial capital in Italian provinces, containing synthetic endowment indicators for natural and cultural heritage, human capital, and structure and distribution of the tourism and leisure industries. Our methodology includes the application of multivariate, and later on econometric, analyses, with the relevant state-of-the-art techniques. We use already available European and national databases, making recourse to ad hoc integrations if and when needed. The study area is Italy; the optimal tier is NUTS3, i.e. provinces, in Italy. The time reference is the period from the early 1990s to the latest available year, to ensure a structural long-term approach. |
| Date: | 2015–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:liu:liucec:290&r=cul |