Cultural Economics

Let´s make a toast to art: A transnational economic paradigm

by Tinna Grétarsdóttir

Gulf Societies and the Image of Unlimited Good

by Sulayman Khalaf

S.N. Khalaf. 1992. Dialectical Anthropology 17: 53-84.

Book Review: Good and Plenty: The Creative Success of American Arts Funding, by Tyler Cowen

by Javier Stanziola

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09548963.2012.674760

Cowen's book is a useful read for those thinking big thoughts about funding in the arts

Cowen very early in... more Cowen's book is a useful read for those thinking big thoughts about funding in the arts

Cowen very early in the book confesses his sins: as an economist (the worst sin you can commit in cultural studies circles) with a libertarian streak (ditto), he is concerned about the efficiency and equity implications of public funding. But he also recognizes, as an “art-lover” (more accepted, but not always), that economic tools are insufficient to evaluate the rationale for and outcomes from funding policies. Instead, he attempts to integrate insights on this issue from the economics literature with an aesthetic approach. He argues that the role of any cultural policy maker is, in fact, to reconcile economic and aesthetic values before “rational policy evaluation” can take place. For rest of the review: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09548963.2012.674760

It's Behind Us? British Pantomime in London's West End

by Simon Sladen

Delivered at conference 'The Heart of the West End' at Theatre Royal Haymarket, 25th March 2012.

In 2008 the Theatre Royal, Haymarket produced Treasure Island as its Christmas offering to the West End. Described by... more In 2008 the Theatre Royal, Haymarket produced Treasure Island as its Christmas offering to the West End. Described by the Independent as ‘posh panto’, Treasure Island, the ‘perennial panto favourite’ (Guardian), marked 120 years since pantomime ceased to be produced at the Theatre Royal and 200 years since the celebrated transfer of Covent Garden’s Mother Goose in 1808. During this 80 year period, the Haymarket became known as one of the ‘most popular venues for pantomime in the Victorian era’ (Encyclopaedia of Pantomime) and would only be eclipsed by the so-called Father of Modern Pantomime, Augustus ‘Druriolanus’ Harris in 1879 with his production of Bluebeard. Suddenly pantomime had a new home in Drury Lane, where it remained a popular feature until 1937.

However in 1948, post WWII, pantomime found yet another new spiritual home in London’s West End: the London Palladium, where it served its duty for 40 years until 1987’s Babes in Wood heralded the end, not only to the venue’s reign as the ‘Home of British Pantomime’, but to an almost constant presence of this peculiar British art form in the theatrical capital of the world.

The 1980s was an era of immense change in the United Kingdom’s theatrical landscape. Arts Council cuts hit the industry hard, whilst Andrew Lloyd Webber and Cameron Mackintosh appeared to govern the West End with their many musical products. Open ended runs, combined with an increase in international tourism, meant that pantomime was often no longer viable or deemed desirable; it may have been at the heart of British culture, but it was no longer at the heart of the West End.

This paper will explore the loss of pantomime in London’s West End, suggesting reasons for its disappearance, whilst also examining the circumstances surrounding the five West End pantomimes presented post-the Palladium’s Babes in the Wood of 1987/1988. Modes of production as well as pantomime and musical theatre’s susceptibility to standardization will also be considered as I seek to evaluate British pantomime’s position in an increasingly globalised theatrical marketplace.

Innovationskulturanalyse in Kalifornien <2011>

by Joerg Potthast

Knappheit. Zeitschrift für Kulturwissenschaften 1/2001, 19-34

eds. Maren Möhring, Erhard Schüttpelz, Martin Zillinger

Spin-off companies are often portrayed as synonyms for radical innovation and celebrated as a fast track alternative... more Spin-off companies are often portrayed as synonyms for radical innovation and celebrated as a fast track alternative to long and multi-stage processes of innovation. Technology clusters, in turn, are said to ensure knowledge inheritance and to compensate for the discontinuity of innovation. The contribution takes a closer look at the literature on (academic) spin-offs and delves into a conceptual puzzle related to the continuity of innovation. It reveals that cultures of innovation are conceptualized in strikingly different ways. A first stream of research finds the continuity of innovation grounded in a specific set of climatic conditions. A second one has shown how networks of innovation compensate for highly discontinuous career paths. A third account suggests re-interpreting entrepreneurial clusters in terms of kinship relations. The biotech cluster of San Diego has a striking record of sustainability and offers a show-case example for the continuity of innovation. Pointing at the three underlying approaches to the culture of innovation, this is far from self-evident.

London: A Cultural Audit

by Alan Freeman

Pre-publication version (see abstract)

This report is a pre-final version of a report published by the Greater London Authority and the London Development... more This report is a pre-final version of a report published by the Greater London Authority and the London Development Agency in March 2008. It benchmarks London’s cultural offer against four other world cities: Paris, New York, Tokyo and Shanghai and is the first comprehensive such undertaking compiled according to international standards. The final printed version can be downloaded from http://www.london.gov.uk/mayor/culture/docs/cultural-audit.pdf The printed version includes full acknowledgement to the several contributors to research into this project, without whom it would not have been possible

The multiplex in India: a cultural economy of urban leisure

by adrian athique

Potenzialità economiche della cultura e v@lorizzazione negata in Sicilia

by Elisa Bonacini

paper presented at "Un'altra Siracusa - Primo Incontro: Il 'valore' della cultura per il turismo", Siracusa, Museo Archeologico Paolo Orsi, 21 ottobre 2011

Dopo un inquadramento generale sul potenziale economico inespresso del nostro patrimonio culturale, il contributo... more Dopo un inquadramento generale sul potenziale economico inespresso del nostro patrimonio culturale, il contributo approfondisce il ‘peso’ economico di Internet e l’arretratezza digitale dell’Italia, che corre il rischio di entrare a far parte di un Terzo Mondo Digitale anche a causa di una serie di impedimenti legislativi allo sviluppo. Infine, si anticipano alcuni risultati di una ricerca in c.d.s. (La visibilit@ sul web del patrimonio culturale siciliano: criticità e prospettive attraverso un survey on-line. Con Guida multimediale ai musei siciliani sul web) nella quale si evidenzia come, tranne alcune rare eccezioni, sia ancora scadente la qualità della comunicazione del patrimonio culturale siciliano.

Culture and Quality in PSB Production: Market Dynamics and Organizational Dependencies

by Marko Ala-Fossi

The Internet, Projectization, and Science and Technology: Strategic Tools to Develop Caribbean Cultural and Creative Industries

by Ian Walcott

The Internet presents the single greatest opportunity for developing nations to increase their insertion into the... more The Internet presents the single greatest opportunity for developing nations to increase their insertion into the global economy by way of trade. However, this must be done by
developing strategic programmes in E-government, e-commerce and e-business which must be underpinned by national strategies that speak to developing Science and Technology as it relates to favorable insertion into the Digital Global Economy. With
these systemic features in place, then ‘projectization’ becomes the effective tool for planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.
This paper is set within the conceptual framework of International Political Economy and examines, in particular, the Caribbean knowledge structure (as it relates to science and
technology) and cultural policy. A more narrow focus will be on the Caribbean island states and their strategies for developing the cultural and creative industries. A closer look at the region’s e-readiness will show that there is little evidence to support the
Caribbean’s willingness to seize the opportunities on the Internet as a global trading place for its cultural goods and services. Such limitations will therefore hinder the region’s attempts at global insertion.

'Post-colonial renaissance: ‘Indianness’, contemporary art and the market in the age of neoliberal capital'

by manuela ciotti

Third World Quarterly 33: 4, 633-651

Arjun Appadurai has argued that ‘the materiality of objects in India is not yet completely penetrated by the logic of... more Arjun Appadurai has argued that ‘the materiality of objects in India is not yet completely penetrated by the logic of the market’ (2006:18). However, the entry and the visibility of modern and contemporary Indian art into the circuits of the global art world increasingly challenge this argument. That of modern and contemporary Indian art is the story of the inscription of local objects and their ‘Indianness’ into the above circuits, with market value being created in the process. If the globalisation of the art world provides a conceptual and material arena where objects are circulated, displayed, and bought and sold through auction houses, exhibitions, biennales, and art fairs, this article analyses an event that epitomises some of the forces at play in this arena: the contemporary art exhibition ‘The empire strikes back: Indian art today’ held in 2010 at the Saatchi Gallery, London. An artistic cum business instantiation of ‘India in Europe’- and one that challenges the visual and aesthetic canons ‘traditionally’ associated to India - this article examines this exhibition as an entry-point into the analysis of how neoliberal capital produces ‘culture’, and into the tension between the commodity form and the infinite possibilities, and unintended consequences, opened up by this very status.

Movie admissions and rental income: the case of James Bond.

by Mark Baimbridge

MEASURING THE IMPACT OF REGIONAL CULTURAL POLICY ON BUYING RECORDED MUSIC: THE CASE OF THE SPANISH LOCAL

by Jordi López-Sintas

The consumption of cultural products: an analysis of the Spanish social space

by Jordi López-Sintas

Underbelly, true crime and the cultural economy of infamy

by Melissa Gregg

Co-authored with Jason Wilson. Published in Continuum: Journal of Media and Cultural Studies 24 (3) 2010: 411-427

By putting the vocabulary of aspiration in the mouths of criminals, and by situating them in the suburbs, the... more By putting the vocabulary of aspiration in the mouths of criminals, and by situating them in the suburbs, the Australian television drama Underbelly suggests that ruthless, murderous competition may not be incompatible with the Australian Dream. Exposing a generation's denial of the criminal elements behind ecstasy's fetishized status, it problematizes celebratory accounts of club culture, and suggests dark externalities for the ‘night-time economy’ of our inner cities. As well as connecting country, suburb and city in repressed criminality, by virtue of its casting choices at the very least, the series blurs the lines between ordinariness, celebrity and infamy. It is in these unresolved tensions that Underbelly constitutes a televisual history of Australia's present that countervails the official pieties of the ordinary that characterized the Howard years.

Complexity Theory and Urban Planning

by Michael McAdams

Published in Urban: Urban Affairs and :Public Policy in Spring-Fall  2008
Volume IX. To view all articles published on line and scanned volumes of printed volumes go to : http://www.tamuk.edu/geo/Urbana/

Urban environments are complex. Urban areas are the environment for multiple activities such as people working in... more Urban environments are complex. Urban areas are the environment for multiple activities such as people working in offices, shopping, purchasing services, interacting with friends and family, eating at restaurants, purchasing and constructing structures (homes, banks, factories etc.) and not so benign ones such as crimes involving persons or property. Interacting and influencing this intricate maze of human activities are governmental and non-governmental bodies at all scales (local, regional, national, global). Nevertheless, these social, political and economic activities operate not in a vacuum but within the physical and built environment with its opportunities and constraints. Such is the environment that urban planning must confront and challenge to effectively guide urban development. Within the last few decades, urban planners, urban geographers and others have noted the inadequacy of using existing scientific methods and organizational structures based on concepts tied to logical-positivism
such as rationalism, reductionism and comprehensive long-range planning to address the problems and challenges of the urban environment. There have been attempts to revise or
modify the planning process with various approaches, but none could have categorized as being even partially effective. The advent of complexity theory  s a vehicle to understand and
plan urban areas is opening up new avenues of thoughts in both physical and social sciences. Complexity theory, although having roots in physics, mathematics and computer science, has developed a set of metaphors that are presently being used outside of these disciplines in the
social sciences. This 'language' of complexity provides the bridge between complex systems modeling and practical applications. Although not a panacea, it is certain that the methods tied to the present practice of urban planning are inadequate to address the evolving urban environment. This essay will introduce complexity theory and the associated metaphors, discuss their relationship in analyzing urban areas and present suggestions of how urban
planning might be revised to incorporate complex theory to be more effective.

Keywords: urban planning, urban policy, complexity theory, urban development, metaphor

Consumer preferences, cultural product types, and the export potential of cultural industries in small countries. Lessons from the Dutch publishing industry

by Michaël Deinema

Paper presented on October 9th 2008 at the European Urban Research Association’s conference ‘Learning cities in a knowledge-based society’ in Milan, 9th-11th October 2008

This paper challenges the assumption that, while the production of cultural goods and services is still locally... more This paper challenges the assumption that, while the production of cultural goods and services is still locally specific and culturally informed, cultural consumption has become globalized. It argues that consumers generally require some degree of cultural knowledge or cultural affinity with cultural products in order to understand and appreciate them. The cognitive distance between producer and consumer should therefore not be too great. This implies that producers from areas that take up a low position in the global cultural hierarchy, experience more difficulties exporting their cultural products than producers from more culturally influential areas. It also implies that we should distinguish between cultural products according to the degree to which they demand specific cultural knowledge from the consumer. Distinctions between cultural products along these lines may be expected to correspond with very distinct (global) geographic patterns of industry concentration, as well as with different types of organization of production.

Patterns of Inequality In Private Funding of Culture Across the UK, Cultural Trends, 2008

by Javier Stanziola

Is there a London Effect when it comes to private investment in the arts? We estimate that the largest contributor to... more Is there a London Effect when it comes to private investment in the arts? We estimate that the largest contributor to funding inequality of cultural institutions in the UK is the degree of heterogeneity among cultural organisations within each region. We find that successful private fundraising is not significantly associated with the region where the organisation operates or with the particular cultural expression object of its activity. These are significant findings for cultural policymakers working on addressing issues of regional concentration of culture and diversifying sources of funding for the sector.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09548960802362009

Modelling the Heritage World: Economic, Legal and Political Considerations, Journal of Heritage Studies, 1998

by Javier Stanziola

The economic literature on heritage has primarily analysed the impact of building preservation on real-estate values... more The economic literature on heritage has primarily analysed the impact of building preservation on real-estate values and community redevelopment. Recently, economists have expanded their study on heritage to include everything from historic buildings and antiques to museums and monuments. However, this research ignores the political and legal characteristics of heritage and is used primarily to justify government expenditures on heritage. The economic study of heritage should include a conceptual framework to explain the process through which certain artefacts acquire historic significance and value. This framework would provide guidance to establish which economic agents form part of the heritage world and what incentives guide them to join it. With this framework in place., we can evaluate how the tools used by these agents to obtain their own goals affect the provision of historic resources.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13527259808722234

“Beggar-thy-neighbor in Art Consumption: Evidence from the Bel Paese”

by Nadia Campaniello

Co-authored with M. Richiardi

This paper sheds some light on the link between the demand for and the supply of cultural goods, testing whether the... more This paper sheds some light on the link between the demand for and the supply of cultural goods, testing whether the existence of cultural goods located in one region increases the demand for cultural goods in other regions. The measurement of such spillovers is important to determine the efficient allocation of cultural resources.
We develop a model of tourism flows with dynamic cultural preferences and test it empirically using aggregate data on the demand and supply of tourism in twenty Italian regions. We complement the empirical test with survey data collected on museums’ visitors in the city of Turin (Piedmont, Italy).
We find strong evidence that local supply of culture stimulates the demand for external cultural goods, which is coherent with our theoretical model and with the economic theories of “Addiction” and of “Learning by Consuming.” The positive spillovers are large and call for coordinated interventions among the many local governments that finance the supply of cultural attractions.