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on Cultural Economics |
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Issue of 2026–04–27
two papers chosen by Roberto Zanola, Università degli Studi del Piemonte Orientale |
| By: | Roaldsnes, Andreas |
| Abstract: | Unequal access to cultural goods remains a social problem that public policy tries to mitigate. But is the state efficient in heightening cultural equality compared to what non-governmental organizations are doing? This study compares the importance of social and cultural preconditions for receiving cultural training for children in Norway and investigates the propensity to participate in Kulturskole (The Norwegian publicly funded School of Music and Performing Arts) or in third sector cultural organizations using survey data of 15 182 children aged 6-15 years old. The findings display a paradoxical situation, where a state cultural policy program is warped to benefit the highly educated and culturally privileged, whereas cultural training in organizations that are not subject to public policy and not directly funded is less characterized by social and cultural inequalities. This paradox is heightened by the fact that the large-scale program (Kulturskole) is in no small part justified because it is “for all”, with a stated aim to contribute to democratization of cultural goods. The result is a cultural policy program that serves as a vehicle for cultural reproduction, rather than a mitigator of this problem, despite being devised and funded in an egalitarian-oriented cultural welfare state. |
| Date: | 2026–04–15 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:xbwks_v1 |
| By: | Jeoung Yul Lee (EM - EMLyon Business School); Jooyoung Kwak (Yonsei University); Shinwon Noh (University of St. Thomas - Minnesota (United States, Saint Paul) - UST) |
| Abstract: | This study investigates how global city characteristics shape the acceptance of non-mainstream cultural goods-focusing on K-pop-as they diffuse across digital platforms. While prior research emphasizes fandom, soft power or media strategies, this research highlights the role of urban infrastructure in cultural globalization. Global cities, with their high levels of connectivity, digital infrastructure and cosmopolitanism, serve as hubs for transnational cultural flows. Drawing on international business, marketing and media studies, the study theorizes that four urban factors-Korean foreign direct investment (FDI), diaspora presence, ICT infrastructure and educational attainment-positively influence K-pop popularity. It furthers proposes that these effects vary by platform: YouTube's visual, algorithm-driven environment may amplify the effects of FDI and ICT, while Spotify's audio-focused, user-curated model may be more influenced by diaspora and education. Using rare-event logistic regression on data from 3786 K-pop hits across 710 US cities (via YouTube and Spotify), the study finds robust support for these hypotheses. Overall, it offers a new perspective on the intersection of urban infrastructure and digital platforms in facilitating the global spread of cultural products, with K-pop servicing as a revealing case of how emerging-market content circulates in the contemporary media landscape. |
| Keywords: | diaspora presence, ICT infrastructure, educational attainment, K-pop, digital platforms, soft power, spread of cultural products, Korean foreign direct investment (FDI), global cities, urban infrastructure |
| Date: | 2026–03–24 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05589070 |