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on Cultural Economics |
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Issue of 2024‒03‒04
three papers chosen by Roberto Zanola, Università degli Studi del Piemonte Orientale |
| By: | Luca Rossi; Michelangelo Rossi |
| Abstract: | This study examines the impact of Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court appointment on U.S. music consumption, specifically exploring changes in streaming patterns on Spotify. With a difference-in-differences approach, we analyze the streaming data of the top 200 songs, revealing a significant increase of at least 13% in the streams of songs by female artists post-appointment. This sustained shift in consumer behaviour suggests a reaction to heightened media attention on gender issues. Our findings are robust against confounding factors such as seasonal trends and Spotify’s promotional activities. Further, the study delves into the role of sexist lyrics, finding a more pronounced effect in songs with sexist terms. This research contributes to understanding political consumerism, showing how significant socio-political events can influence consumer preferences in seemingly unrelated sectors like the music industry. It underscores the importance of adaptive strategies in digital marketplaces in response to external socio-political changes, and highlights the broader societal implications of major events on consumer behaviour and attitudes, particularly concerning gender imbalances. |
| Keywords: | gender equality, music industry, social movements, political consumerism |
| JEL: | J16 L82 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_10887&r=cul |
| By: | Babatunde Buraimo; Jing Guan; J.D. Tena |
| Abstract: | Sports leagues are traditionally considered as natural monopolies. Therefore, understanding how different sports competitions interact is a fundamental economic question. In particular, it is unclear how a closed (or semi-closed) elite tournament affects the level of competition in domestic leagues. On the one hand, it facilitates access to more financial resources that can increase the gap between big and small teams at the national level. But, on the other hand, participating in more competitions could also imply more fatigue and lack of concentration on the domestic league, given the greater demand that is placed on playing talent. This paper studies the effect of participating in basketball’s Euroleague tournament on team performance in eight national leagues. We find that Euroleague participation harms national performance, reducing the probability of victory by around 9% in ‘big’ leagues (i.e. those with the strongest teams). However, no significant effect was found for the rest of the league.A potential transmission channel for this effect is the higher reduction in the number of days between matches. Overall, the present paper suggests that a superleague tournament could contribute to reducing the gap between big and small clubs, at least in the strongest national leagues. We discuss the political implications of this result. |
| Keywords: | OR in sports, basketball, Euroleague, difference-in-differences, heterogeneous treatment effects |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:liv:livedp:202306&r=cul |
| By: | Tin Cheuk Leung; Koleman Strumpf |
| Abstract: | In this study, we propose a novel approach to detect supply-side media bias, independent of external factors like ownership or editors’ ideological leanings. Analyzing over 100, 000 articles from The New York Times (NYT) and The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), complemented by data from 22 million tweets, we assess the factors influencing article duration on their digital homepages. By flexibly controlling for demand-side preferences, we attribute extended homepage presence of ideologically slanted articles to supply-side biases. Utilizing a machine learning model, we assign “pro-Democrat” scores to articles, revealing that both tweets count and ideological orientation significantly impact homepage longevity. Our findings show that liberal articles tend to remain longer on the NYT homepage, while conservative ones persist on the WSJ. Further analysis into articles’ transition to print and podcasts suggests that increased competition may reduce media bias, indicating a potential direction for future theoretical exploration. |
| Keywords: | media bias, media economics, social media, machine learning |
| JEL: | D22 D72 D83 L82 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_10890&r=cul |