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on Cultural Economics |
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Issue of 2025–07–21
seven papers chosen by Roberto Zanola, Università degli Studi del Piemonte Orientale |
| By: | Natalie Bau; Sara Lowes; Eduardo Montero |
| Abstract: | Culture shapes how policies are made and how people react to them. This chapter explores how culture and development policy affect each other. First, we provide evidence that cultural mismatch — specifically a mismatch between project manager background and the location of project implementation — is associated with the reduced success of World Bank projects. Second, drawing on historical and ethnographic work, we show that disregarding local cultural norms can undermine well-intentioned development policies. Third, we review economic research demonstrating that cultural practices systematically shape policy effectiveness, often leading to heterogeneous or unintended effects. Fourth, we discuss evidence that policies themselves can reshape cultural norms, sometimes in unexpected ways. Finally, we discuss research on tailoring interventions to the local context and conclude with lessons for future research. |
| JEL: | N0 O10 Z1 |
| Date: | 2025–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:33947 |
| By: | Olivia Guillon (CEPN - Centre d'Economie de l'Université Paris Nord - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - Université Sorbonne Paris Nord) |
| Abstract: | Book authors' participation in fairs, festivals and writing workshops has become an increasingly important source of revenue and has come to play a key role in the book industry's economic models. Through individual interviews with some sixty contemporary French authors, we examine how authors perceive these activities and we propose an interpretation in terms of professionalization. Authors' participation in literary events involves two trade-offs : in the short term, monetary relations and the allocation of working time are at stake ; regarding the long term, we highlight the prospects for professional development as offered by, or limited by, encounters with other actors, in particular peers, readers and publishers. An analysis of authors' discourse reveals the close interweaving of economic and creative concerns for each of these trade-offs, but also the variability of these concerns according to individual situations. Literary events play a contrastive role in the professionalism of authors : they represent opportunities for authors to distinguish between the qualities and positions they desire or in which they recognize themselves, from those they consider foreign to or even detrimental to the practice of their art. |
| Abstract: | La participation des auteurs de livres à des salons, festivals, rencontres littéraires ou ateliers d'écriture occupe une place de plus en plus centrale dans leurs revenus et plus généralement dans les modèles économiques de la filière, tous genres littéraires confondus. À partir d'entretiens individuels avec une soixantaine d'auteurs contemporains français, nous examinons la façon dont ils perçoivent ces activités et en proposons une interprétation en termes de professionnalisation. La participation des auteurs à des événements littéraires relève de deux arbitrages : à court terme, sont en jeu les rapports monétaires et l'allocation du temps de travail ; à plus long terme, sont pointées les perspectives de développement professionnel offertes ou au contraire limitées par les rencontres avec d'autres acteurs, notamment leurs pairs, lecteurs et éditeurs. L'analyse du discours des auteurs montre l'étroit entrelacement des préoccupations économiques et créatives dans chacun de ces arbitrages, mais aussi leur variabilité en fonction des situations individuelles. Les événements littéraires jouent un rôle contrastif dans la professionnalité des auteurs : ils représentent pour eux des occasions de distinguer les qualités et positions qu'ils désirent ou dans lesquelles ils se reconnaissent de celles qu'ils considèrent comme étrangères voire préjudiciables à l'exercice de leur art. |
| Keywords: | literary events, book authors, professionalization, socio-economic analysis, industry, manifestations littéraires, auteurs de livres |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05094476 |
| By: | Alberto Bisin; Thierry Verdier |
| Abstract: | In this chapter we survey recent advances in modeling cultural transmission in the economics literature. We first present the basic canonical model of the evolution of cultural traits in the social sciences. Both Economics and Evolutionary anthropology build on this canonical model but their approaches are conceptually very different. After elucidating these differences, we introduce several recent economic models of cultural transmission which address a rich set of novel and interesting questions in the literature. We present these models as extensions of the canonical framework, organized along theoretical dimensions that we categorize as pertaining to preferences and technology. We finally briefly discuss how cultural evolution represents a fundamental component - alongside institutional change - of recent theoretical work on the political economy of long-run growth. We conclude suggesting interesting areas for future research. |
| JEL: | C60 D1 N0 P0 Z10 Z13 |
| Date: | 2025–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:33928 |
| By: | Knoll, Anna Lena; Mikuni, Jan; Specker, Eva (Leibniz Instute for Knowledge Media (IWM)) |
| Abstract: | Placing art in urban spaces can make urban public environments more attractive and colourful by offering beautiful and restorative environments; This may invite people to spend time in the area and create opportunities for social engagement, and community development. In this observational study we collaborated with "Keine Galerie" (translating to "not a gallery"), a small window gallery in the city of Vienna (Austria) to address the following questions: Does the presence of publicly available art influence people’s behaviour (in terms of type, frequency, and duration) in an urban space? Does it enhance peoples’ social interactions, such as the amount of conversations in a group? To capture the impact of presence of art, we collected data during two exhibitions by two different artists at Keine Galerie (i.e. art conditions) as well as between exhibitions when no art was visible (i.e. control condition). We used observational methods to unobtrusively assess how pedestrians who were passing through the study area interact with their environment either with or without art. Our results showed that art being present invites passers-by to interact with the space more than when no art is present (no art vs. art conditions) but also that the type of art may matter (Ex.1 vs. Ex. 2), which influenced not just the amount of interactions but also which interactions took place. We discuss these quantitative and qualitative differences, also with regard to potential confounding factors (e.g. weather), and propose avenues for further research into the impact of art in public space. |
| Date: | 2025–07–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:ywmht_v1 |
| By: | Margot Leclair (LEST - Laboratoire d'Economie et de Sociologie du Travail - AMU - Aix Marseille Université - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, InCIAM - Institut de Créativité et d'Innovation - AMU - Aix Marseille Université) |
| Abstract: | Recognizing the role of materials and bodies in creative and innovative processes is crucial for understanding how affect is generated and embedded in such processes. The interplay between materials and bodies infuses the atmosphere with emotions and sensations, transforming the creative body into an indispensable component within a multifaceted environment. Whether it is the tactile sensation of an artist's brush on a canvas or the resonance of musical instruments in a studio, the affective dimensions of these interactions permeate the creative space, shaping the outcomes. By adopting an atmospheric approach, we can uncover the complex connections between individuals, materials, and the environment in which creativity thrives. Organizations, in particular, provide a fertile ground for exploring such atmospheric constitution of creativity. The physical spaces, objects, and social interactions within an organization contribute to the atmospheric qualities that stimulate creative processes. |
| Date: | 2025–02–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05135800 |
| By: | Clément Gorin; Stephan Heblich; Yanos Zylberberg |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes 630, 000 paintings from 1400 onward to uncover how visual art reflects its socioeconomic context. We develop a learning algorithm to predict nine basic emotions conveyed in each painting and isolate a context effect—the emotional signal shared across artworks created in the same location and year—controlling for artist, genre, and epoch-specific influences. These emotion distributions encode subtle but meaningful information about the living standards, uncertainty, or inequality characterizing the context in which the artworks were produced. We propose this emotion-based measure, derived from historical artworks, as a novel lens to examine how societies experienced major socioeconomic transformations, including climate variability, trade dynamics, technological change, shifts in knowledge production, and political transitions. |
| JEL: | C45 O10 R11 Z1 |
| Date: | 2025–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:33976 |
| By: | Anjali Adukia; Emileigh Harrison |
| Abstract: | Curricula impart knowledge, instill values, and shape collective memory. Despite growing public funding for religious schools through U.S. school choice programs, little is known about what they teach. We examine textbooks from public schools, religious private schools, and home schools, applying computational methods -- including the use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools -- to measure the presence and portrayal of people, topics, and values over time. Despite narratives of political polarization, our findings reveal few meaningful differences between public school textbooks from Texas and California. However, religious school textbooks have less female representation, feature lighter-skinned individuals, and portray topics like evolution and religion differently. Over one-third of pages in each collection convey character values, with a higher proportion in religious school textbooks. Important similarities also emerge: all textbook collections rarely include LGBTQIA+ discussion, portray females in more positive but less active or powerful contexts than males, and depict the U.S. founding era and slavery in similar contexts. |
| Keywords: | curricula, education policy, religious education, public school education, diversity and inclusion in education, artificial intelligence tools, computational social science, content analysis |
| JEL: | I20 I21 I28 J15 Z13 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11965 |