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on Cultural Economics |
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Issue of 2020‒09‒07
three papers chosen by Roberto Zanola Università degli Studi del Piemonte Orientale |
| By: | Anthony Koschmann; Yi Qian |
| Abstract: | Conventional wisdom holds that illegal copies cannibalize legitimate sales, even though previous research has found mixed effects, with illegal copies acting as both a substitute and complement. Yet, a relatively unexamined aspect to date is the quality of illegal copies. Building on product uncertainty and production quality, we propose that higher quality copies can benefit sales when product uncertainty is high, such as during the launch period. Using motion picture and online piracy data, we estimate piracy quality using a latent item response theory (IRT) model based on keyword signals in the copies. An interdependent system jointly estimates movie screens, revenues, downloads, and available illegal copies with piracy quality in both the launch and post-launch periods. We find that at launch, when rather little is known about the movie, higher quality illegal copies demonstrate a positive effect on revenues (sampling). In the post-launch period, however, higher quality illegal copies exhibit a negative effect on revenues (substitution). The findings suggest producers can alleviate product uncertainty through higher quality samples at product launch while diluting piracy quality post-launch. |
| JEL: | K42 M21 M31 O3 |
| Date: | 2020–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:27649&r=all |
| By: | LU Fang; HUANG Guangwei; LI Xiying |
| Abstract: | Yoga has become the most popular health trend in the world in recent years. In 2014, the United Nations General Assembly approved a resolution establishing 21 June as “International Day of Yoga” and even the logo was designed for the day. And then On December 1, 2016, yoga was listed by UNESCO as an intangible cultural heritage of humanity.In China, more and more people began to practice Yogaasanaand Pran?ayamasince 1980s, and then most of them began to explore the culture embodied by it. With the deeper understanding of the yoga, it is thought that yoga is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India.What’s more, in yoga culture research, some of the similar wisdom can be found in Chinese wisdom. In this paper, a comparison study was made to explore the wisdom in both India and China to help people in either country to realize self-improvement, to control the desires and at last to make the self- realization. Key Words: yoga; link, culture comparison Policy |
| Date: | 2020–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:vor:issues:2020-33-05&r=all |
| By: | Matthew Olczak (Aston Business School, Aston University); J. James Reade (Department of Economics, University of Reading); Matthew Yeo (Department of Economics, University of Reading) |
| Abstract: | Mass attendance events are a mainstay of economic and social activity. Such events have public health consequences, facilitating the spreading of disease, with attendant economic consequences. There is uncertainty over the impact such events can have on the spread of disease. We investigate the impact of regular mass outdoor meetings on the spread of a virus by considering football matches in England in February and March 2020 and the spread of Covid-19 into April 2020. There were 340 league and cup football matches with a combined attendance of 1.625m people in March, taking place over 188 of 313 local areas. We look at the occurrence and attendance at matches, and how full the stadia were, and how these variables are related to the spread of Covid-19 in April. We evaluate Covid-19 cases, deaths and excess deaths, all as rates of 100,000 people in an area. We find evidence that mass outdoor events were consistent with more cases and deaths, even after controlling for measurable characteristics of local areas. We find that a football match is consistent with around six additional Covid-19 cases per 100,000 people, two additional Covid-19 deaths per 100,000 people, and three additional excess deaths per 100,000 people. This effect is slightly stronger for the areas of away teams in March, and slightly weaker for matches in February. These results suggest caution in returning to unrestricted spectator attendance at matches. We caveat our analysis though by noting that stadium access and egress routes can be adapted such that some of the opportunities for the spread of an airborne virus could be mitigated. We recommend that the relevant authorities conduct pilot events before determining to what extent fans can return to mass outdoor events. |
| Keywords: | Social distancing, mass outdoor gatherings, Covid-19 |
| JEL: | I18 H12 I10 |
| Date: | 2020–09–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rdg:emxxdp:em-dp2020-19&r=all |