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on Cultural Economics |
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Issue of 2026–05–25
six papers chosen by Roberto Zanola, Università degli Studi del Piemonte Orientale |
| By: | Tomasz Kopczewski (University of Warsaw, Faculty of Economic Sciences); Justyna Laskowska-Lisicka (Adam Mickiewicz Institute); Jan Lisicki (University of Warsaw, Faculty of Economic Sciences); Kostiantyn Okhrimenko (University of Warsaw, Faculty of Economic Sciences); Tomasz Potocki (University of Rzeszów) |
| Abstract: | This article presents an ongoing pedagogical project at the intersection of economics and art education. It starts from a double blind wall: economics rarely uses the art market as a eaching laboratory, while art education often protects aesthetic judgement from market reductionism. We propose a transferable protocol combining diagnostic questions, valuation tasks, anchoring and signalling treatments, public-art perception probes, and dashboard feedback. Its first implementation uses Wojciech Fangor in Warsaw. The aim is not representative measurement, but a replicable design through which students observe how attention, information, narrative, and market signals shape the encounter with art. |
| Keywords: | art valuation, economics education, art education, anchoring, signalling, asymmetric information, pedagogical narrative laboratory, Know Thyself, Wojciech Fangor, replication |
| JEL: | A22 A29 C93 D83 D91 I23 Z11 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:war:wpaper:2026-16 |
| By: | Christophe Godlewski (EM Strasbourg - École de Management de Strasbourg = EM Strasbourg Business School - UNISTRA - Université de Strasbourg, LARGE - Laboratoire de Recherche en Gestion et Economie - UNISTRA - Université de Strasbourg); Laurent Weill (EM Strasbourg - École de Management de Strasbourg = EM Strasbourg Business School - UNISTRA - Université de Strasbourg, LARGE - Laboratoire de Recherche en Gestion et Economie - UNISTRA - Université de Strasbourg, UK - Univerzita Karlova [Praha, Česká republika] = Charles University [Prague, Czech Republic] = Université Charles [Prague, Republique tchèque]) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates whether cultural narratives embedded in folklore influence the pricing of syndicated loans. We combine loan-level data for European companies with the cross-cultural dataset of oral traditions compiled by Michalopoulos and Xue (2021) to examine whether stories about risk-taking shape loan spreads. We find that the presence of challenge-related motifs in a lender's cultural background is associated with higher spreads. More specifically, tales that portray unsuccessful outcomes lead to significantly higher loan spreads, while those depicting successful risk-taking have no discernible effect. A greater prevalence of failure over success in challenge-related folklore robustly predicts higher spreads across specifications. These findings suggest that cultural beliefs about risk—transmitted through folklore—affect how lenders perceive borrower uncertainty. By shaping the soft information environment in which credit decisions are made, ancestral narratives continue to influence the terms of modern financial contracts. |
| Keywords: | Culture Folklore Bank Loans |
| Date: | 2026–01–29 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05621409 |
| By: | Mohammad Jalili Torkamani; Pedro Gomes; Amirmohammad Sadeghnejad; Jason Le |
| Abstract: | The film industry is characterized by significant financial uncertainty, where large production investments do not always guarantee commercial success. This study analyzes the relationship between release season, production budget, and movie financial performance using the Full TMDB Movies Dataset 2024. A data mining framework incorporating association rule mining, clustering, machine learning, and SHAP analysis was applied to identify key drivers of revenue and profitability. The results show that release season has limited predictive influence on revenue and return on investment (ROI). In contrast, production budget, popularity, and audience ratings are significantly more influential. Association rule mining revealed that high-budget films with poor ratings are strongly associated with negative ROI outcomes. Random Forest regression achieved substantially stronger predictive performance than Decision Tree regression, with an $R^2$ value of 0.652. SHAP analysis further confirmed that budget and popularity are the dominant predictors of box office revenue, while timing-related variables contribute minimally. These findings suggest that financial success in the film industry is driven more by production investment and market attention than by seasonal release strategies, providing practical insights for budgeting, release planning, and financial risk management. |
| Date: | 2026–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2605.12551 |
| By: | Ana-Isabel Guerra; Alfredo Mainar; Maria Teresa Alvárez Martínez; Patricia Saguar |
| Abstract: | The present analysis uses an extended version of the restricted demand-driven Input-Output multipliers to compute the economy-wide opportunity costs of households cultural expenses. We then present a novel methodology that allows capturing the direct and indirect costs associated to movements along the Households expenditure possibilities frontier. To this end, we use a Social Accounting Matrix for the Spanish economy. Apart from computing the total opportunity costs of cultural expenses for the average Spanish Household, we have evaluated these total costs for eight different Households categories classified according to its monthly net income. In our view, the results are useful not only to understand what justifies the different consumption patterns regarding cultural expenses in a specific region, such as Spain, but also across Households categories. In addition, our findings may serve to increase the degree of efficiency of those policies that seek to increase cultural expenses in an economy because of both the total economy-wide effects and the positive indirect externalities that culture generates. |
| Date: | 2026–05–15 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aub:autbar:979.26 |
| By: | Garcia, Armando (University of Iceland) |
| Abstract: | This article develops an anthropological reading of immigrant representation in Icelandic cinema through the lens of racial capitalism. Focusing on Ísold Uggadóttir's Andið eðlilega / And Breathe Normally (2018), alongside Tryggð / The Deposit (2019), Gullregn (2020), Kona fer í stríð / Woman at War (2018), Ikíngut (2000), Ófærð / Trapped (2015–), and a wider corpus of films and series, it argues that recent Icelandic audio-visual production renders visible the surveillance and policing infrastructures through which racialised mobility is governed at the Nordic periphery. The film analysis is brought into dialogue with empirical research on police–minority relations in Iceland, which documents perceptions of bias and procedural injustice among persons of colour and migrants, and with scholarship on whiteness, Nordic exceptionalism, and crimmigration in the wider region. Drawing on a small but theoretically informed film corpus and a typology of immigrant subjectivities, the article shows how cinematic framings of asylum seekers, Indigenous children, low-budget tourists and migrant workers both reproduce and contest Icelandic narratives of innocence. The article concludes with policy implications for anti-racist reform of Icelandic border and policing practices, and for public support of migrant-centred film-making. |
| Date: | 2026–05–15 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:ksyux_v1 |
| By: | Fabio Padovano (CREM - Centre de recherche en économie et management - UNICAEN - Université de Caen Normandie - NU - Normandie Université - UR - Université de Rennes - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, ROMA TRE - Università degli Studi Roma Tre = Roma Tre University); Asya Pugliano (CREM - Centre de recherche en économie et management - UNICAEN - Université de Caen Normandie - NU - Normandie Université - UR - Université de Rennes - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | This study empirically examines whether public subsidies increase the originality of programming decisions of 40 Italian opera and drama theatres from the 2015–16 to the 2022–23 season, exploiting a newly assembled panel dataset. It innovates on the literature as it (1) provides the first panel data analysis of the relationship, allowing to examine the originality of programming choices also over time; (2) calculates the conventionality indexes separately by genre (opera and drama), author and title; (3) deals with Italian theatres. The estimates with theatre fixed effects show that a higher share of subsidies in total revenues of opera theatres are associated with greater originality in the choice of authors but not of titles; for drama theatres, subsidies do not promote greater originality. Across genres, the capacity of the venue is positively correlated with conventionality, while the education of the potential audience allows for more original programming choices. A battery of robustness tests confirms these results. |
| Keywords: | Drama and opera theaters, Z11, D01, D12, Panel data analysis, Conventionality index, Public subsidies, Originality of the repertoires |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05619147 |