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on Cultural Economics |
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Issue of 2025–07–14
four papers chosen by Roberto Zanola, Università degli Studi del Piemonte Orientale |
| By: | Viviana Leonardi (Universidad Nacional del Sur); Marina Tortul (Universidad Nacional del Sur) |
| Abstract: | The main objective of the paper is to examine the determinants of consumption of entertainment events the ballet, orchestra and choral singing, with the aim of testing the following hypotheses: (1) the salience hypothesis (Bourdieu, 1979), (2) the consumption-based learning hypothesis (Lévy-Garboua and Montmarquette, 1996), and (3) the territorial adherence hypothesis (Campos, 2012). This research is carried out in the city of Bahia Blanca (BB). The city of BB is an intermediate, port and industrial city, located in the southwest of the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina. To address the objective of this article, a probit model is proposed to estimate the determinants that influence the probability of attending ballet, orchestra and choral singing events. The results confirm that both early exposure to culture and a family environment conducive to the development of cultural activities positively influence the probability of attending ballet, orchestra and choral singing events. It is crucial to consider actions that, as Güell and Peters (2017) suggest, break down the arbitrary distinction between high and low culture, expanding the appreciation for classical arts and broadening audiences to advance the process of cultural democracy. |
| Keywords: | cultural participation, arts consumption |
| JEL: | Z11 |
| Date: | 2025–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cue:wpaper:awp-02-2025 |
| By: | Marcello D'Amato (University of Naples Suor Orsola Benincasa, CSEF and CELPE.); Francesco Flaviano Russo (Università di Napoli Federico II and CSEF) |
| Abstract: | We show empirically that interstate conflicts are less likely among countries that share more of their oral tradition, as enshrined in the folktales. Popular tales and narratives are related to expectations and beliefs held about the other parties behavior: larger similarity in the systems of beliefs in the populations - cultural relatedness- reduces information frictions in dispute resolutions and negotiation failures between states. To validate this interpretation, we show that countries with more oral tradition in common are more likely to form military alliances, more likely to participate to the same international organizations, more likely to vote similarly in the UN general assembly, more likely to trade with each other and, in case a conflicts breaks out, more likely to terminate it with a negotiation. |
| Keywords: | Ethnic Culture; Narratives; Cultural distances, Interstate conflicts. |
| JEL: | F5 N4 Z1 |
| Date: | 2025–04–25 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sef:csefwp:749 |
| By: | Deckker, Dinesh; Sumanasekara, Subhashini |
| Abstract: | The number 13 is widely regarded as unlucky in many Western societies, yet its symbolic meaning varies significantly across global cultures. This superstition, known as triskaidekaphobia, raises questions about the interplay between myth, cognition, and cultural transmission. This study aimed to investigate the origins, evolution, and cross-cultural symbolism of the number 13, exploring how it has been constructed as a taboo or sacred number across different civilisations and religious systems. Adopting a qualitative narrative inquiry and comparative analysis approach, the study synthesised data from religious texts, mythologies, historical documents, scholarly literature, and architectural practices. Theoretical frameworks from symbolic anthropology, cognitive psychology, and sociology guided the interpretation of the data. Findings reveal that the fear of 13 is not universal but culturally contingent. In Christian and Norse traditions, it is associated with betrayal and cosmic disruption; in Ancient Egyptian, Hindu, and Maya cultures, it symbolises spiritual transformation and cosmic order. The modern institutionalisation of the taboo in Western architecture and media reflects the power of narrative and collective belief over objective reasoning. The number 13 functions as a symbolic threshold—its meaning derived from narrative structure, cultural boundaries, and cognitive heuristics. This study underscores the importance of viewing numeric taboos as culturally produced phenomena rather than inherent superstitions. |
| Date: | 2025–06–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:s3drq_v1 |
| By: | Fabio Gatti; Joel Huesler |
| Abstract: | The correspondence of historical personalities serves as a rich source of psychological, social, and economic information. Letters were indeed used as means of communication within the family circles but also a primary method for exchanging information with colleagues, subordinates, and employers. A quantitative analysis of such material enables scholars to reconstruct both the internal psychology and the relational networks of historical figures, ultimately providing deeper insights into the socio-economic systems in which they were embedded. In this study, we analyze the outgoing correspondence of Michelangelo Buonarroti, a prominent Renaissance artist, using a collection of 523 letters as the basis for a structured text analysis. Our methodological approach compares three distinct Natural Language Processing Methods: an Augmented Dictionary Approach, which relies on static lexicon analysis and Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) for topic modeling, a Supervised Machine Learning Approach that utilizes BERT-generated letter embeddings combined with a Random Forest classifier trained by the authors, and an Unsupervised Machine Learning Method. The comparison of these three methods, benchmarked to biographic knowledge, allows us to construct a robust understanding of Michelangelo’s emotional association to monetary, thematic, and social factors. Furthermore, it highlights how the Supervised Machine Learning method, by incorporating the authors’ domain knowledge and understanding of documents and background, can provide, in the context of Renaissance multi-themed letters, a more nuanced interpretation of contextual meanings, enabling the detection of subtle (positive or negative) sentimental variations due to a variety of factors that other methods can overlook. |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:baf:cbafwp:cbafwp25251 |