Full-income and price elasticities of demand for German public theatre

This article provides estimates of price and income elasticities of demand for German public theatre, using a large and reliable data set for 178 theatres over 40 years (1965–2004). It is posited that the consumption of the performing arts is a time-intensive activity for which both a theatre ticket and leisure time are necessary. Thus, the impacts of ‘full-income’ (‘leisure time income’ added to disposable income) and the price of leisure time on theatre attendance are examined. The findings indicate that the demand for the performing arts is own-price inelastic. The disposable income elasticity is significant, positive and equals approximately one. In contrast, the full-income elasticity is well above one and greater than usual income elasticity indicating that the performing arts are a luxury good when leisure time income is included in the consumer’s budget. The positive full-income effect is, however, offset by the negative price of leisure effect indicating that leisure time is a complement for the performing arts. Additionally, three objective quality characteristics of theatrical productions which can positively influence theatre demand are examined.

Performing arts as a club good: Evidence from a nonprofit organization

This paper combines perspectives on nonprofit organizations, clubs and club goods, demand for performing arts, and demand for charitable contributions to consider relationships between nonprofit organizations in the performing arts and their patrons. A broad view is taken of factors influencing demand for club goods, charitable donations, and for the live performing arts. These are integrated in a model of demand for the outputs and services of nonprofits in the performing arts. Data from a single institution is used to test hypotheses. Conclusions are drawn for organizational policy and economic theory.     

Is increased public spending for the preservation of historic monuments inevitable? The French case

There is a permanent expansion of the number of sites or properties listed as historic monuments in France. This expansion and the lack of productivity gains in the sector of restoration lead, within a stable economy, to an ever greater proportion of the national income being earmarked for upkeep and restoration. Hence the number of monuments to be subsidized grows. The policy does not include any mechanism of regulation. Ironically, laws governing this area have the effect of precipitating cost increases. Three possible alternatives are considered: appeals for sponsorship, merchandising, delisting.     

Neither Public Nor Private: The Hybridization of Museums

This paper takes a preliminary look at the hybridization of museums – the creation of a variety of mixed forms of governance incorporating both public and private governing authorities. Using data from three national surveys of American museums, the analysis documents the mix of types of governing authority and demonstrates how this mix varies across location, over time, and by museum type. The paper then estimates the extent of hybridization using several different indicators and speculates about its implications. The United States offers a particularly informative case because the general view is that American museums are (1) either public or private and (2) predominately private. While the second part of this view may still be a useful characterization of American museums, the first is no longer a particularly helpful way of understanding American museums, or, by extension, other cultural institutions, American or not. It is increasingly necessary to view cultural institutions through the lens of hybridization rather than privatization in order to improve our ability to document and predict their institutional behavior.     

A simultaneous model of nonprofit symphony orchestra behavior

In this paper, we test a six equation simultaneous model of nonprofit symphony orchestra behavior. The model is based on Hansmann's theory of nonprofit behavior in the performing arts. The results show that the most prestigious of the orchestras practise a pricing policy that encourages patrons to make a tax deductible contribution. In this manner, they achieve a pattern of price discrimination that, instead of increasing revenues, reduces revenues. Following conditions suggested by Hansmann, we are also able to draw conclusions about the objectives of nonprofit symphony orchestras.     

Evidence of the existence of the cost disease in the performing arts

This paper examines the experience of 25 large U.S. orchestras over a 21-year period for the presence or absence of the cost disease. Appropriate measures of input and output are discussed. Measures of productivity, compensation per worker, and unit labor costs are calculated and compared to similar measures for the manufacturing sector. The history of ticket prices and attendance is reviewed, and price and income elasticities of demand are estimated. The relationship between all these variables is explored, and some policy recommendations are offered.The author is grateful to Professor William Baumol and two anonymous referees for their helpful comments. She also wishes to thank Heather Dinwiddie and Dan Patterson of the American Symphony Orchestra League for making the orchestra data available. Support for this project was provided by a grant-in-aid of research from Indiana University Southeast.     

The Other Side of the Subsidized Muse: Indirect Aid Revisited

Indirect aid to the arts is an area of state support in which there has been considerable recent innovation and experimentation. This paper focuses on examples of tax-based indirect aid schemes drawn from a wide variety of national contexts and tax regimes. These examples are considered in the light of six propositions about the applicability and desirability of tax-based indirect aid mechanisms. Finally, these observations are set in the context of the broader discussion concerning the primary and ancillary functions of tax law. The paper concludes with a plea for a more coordinated approach to the study of tax-based incentives to facilitate further comparative research and suggests which research questions might be of most interest.     

Perverse outcomes of intense competition in the popular arts and its implications for product quality

A theoretical model is presented demonstrating how the quality of art output can fall when competition intensifies. When search costs are high, additional entries beyond a certain threshold are not reviewed, leading to no quality improvement from increasing the number of products in the pool of potential entries beyond this point. Furthermore, adding marginal quality products into the pool can dilute the quality of the pool. When firms have perfect judgment, the product selected is the best in the pool making dilution of the pool unimportant. However, when firms make large errors in judging the quality of entries, the quality of the selected product will fall when the average quality in the pool falls. A simulation model is utilized in addition to an analytical model to show likely outcomes with reasonable model parameters.

The economics of music festivals

This paper attempts to explain the rapid growth in the number of classical music and opera festivals. Two secularly increasing demand factors — a rise in real disposable incomes and an increased amount of time and money devoted to holidays — are well met by the supply of music festivals which almost perfectly combine culture and holidays. On the supply side, festivals may profit from low marginal cost of production factors and are considered as an effort to avoid restrictions from government regulations and trade unions.     

The Determinants of Artistic Innovation: Bringing in the Role of Organizations

This article deals with the determinants of artistic innovation by arts organizations. First, we define artistic innovation. Second, we review the literature on its determinants, identifying some gaps. In particular, we observe that existing research mostly focuses on macro-environmental factors and tends to ignore the role of the organizations themselves. Thus, drawing from the organizational literature on innovation we formulate testable propositions that relate organizational factors to artistic innovation. We hope that our focus on organizational factors contributes to a more comprehensive framework on the determinants of artistic innovation in particular and programming in general.     

Culture,economics and sustainability

In this paper it is argued that systems analysis can provide a means of bringing economic and cultural systems together in a unified framework. It is then proposed that a link between economics and culture can be established through the concept of culturally sustainable development, definable in terms of a set of criteria relating to advancement of material and nonmaterial wellbeing, inter-and intra-generational equity, and recognition of interdependence. The paper suggests that conceptualising the interaction between the cultural and economic systems in these terms might provide a workable model for policy analysis.     

The efficiency of German public theaters: a stochastic frontier analysis approach

In recent years the economic performance of public non-profit sectors such as cultural services has become an interesting economic issue. This is due to the high dependence of cultural institutions on public funding on the one hand and the increasing cost-pressure on public budgets on the other hand. In order to achieve an efficient, cost-minimizing resource allocation public authorities who decide on the distribution of public budgets need reliable performance indicators. Against this background, this paper analyzes the efficiency of German public theaters for the seasons 1991/1992–2005/2006. Using a stochastic frontier analysis approach, we test whether the assumption of cost-minimizing behavior is reliable in this sector. Moreover, several panel data models that differ in their ability to account for unobserved heterogeneity are applied to evaluate the impact of unobserved heterogeneity on the efficiency estimates. The results indicate that the cost-minimizing assumption cannot be maintained. Consequently, an efficiency analysis based on a cost function approach seems inappropriate in the case of German public theaters. Further, we find a considerable unobserved heterogeneity across the theaters, which causes a significant variation in the models’ efficiency estimates. This implies that failing to account for unobserved heterogeneity leads to biased efficiency values. Overall, our results suggest that there is still space for improvement in the employment of resources in the sector.     

Determinants of Public Cultural Expenditures: An Exploratory Time Series Analysis for Austria

Austria calls itself a ``cultural nation' as the arts, the performing arts (theaters) and museums, in particular, play an important role in public debate. However, the question arises as to whether public cultural expenditures as an indication of the significance of cultural policy are really as important when compared to other policy fields as political parties and the government try to suggest. A time series of public cultural expenditures for the period from 1967 to 1998 is taken as a basis for testing econometrically whether public expenditures (measured primarily as the ratio to GDP) follow a growth path. Based on tests for the stationarity of the time series of cultural expenditures in Austria, there are empirical indications that cultural expenditures, gross domestic product (GDP) and the relative price index (GDP and government expenditures) are cointegrated. Further econometric estimations (error-correction models) show that cultural expenditures increase with growing GDP but are vulnerable to short term fluctuations. Additionally, ``Baumol's cost disease' adds to the long-term growth of cultural expenditures. In the past the growth path of cultural expenditures has been stable and independent of the ideology of ruling parties, the form of government and political business cycles.     

Contingent Valuation of a Cultural Public Good and Policy Design: The Case of ``Napoli Musei Aperti'

The aim of the paper is twofold: to report on theapplication of a contingent valuation survey todetermine the value to the Naples population ofmaintaining ``Napoli Musei Aperti', a cultural publicgood provided by the city of Naples, and to exploresome alternative schemes of cultural policy. The paperis divided in two parts. The first presents someresults of the contingent valuation study. The seconddiscusses the use of the contingent valuation as apolicy instrument in the public cultural sector.     

CULTURAL WORK AND TRANSFORMATIVE ARTS

The model of cultural work undertaken by the Amber Film and Photography Collective represents a radical challenge to the insecure and de-politicised world of cultural work that has long been the norm within the arts. Our paper, which explores the collective's diverse forms of cultural work, including paid labour, collective labour, gift labour and creative labour, argues that cultural work can be imbued with moral commitments and egalitarian ideals. The Amber collective functioned as much like a social movement organisation or a social economy enterprise as a cultural group: it was dedicated to creating alternative cultural networks and a new material foundation for cultural work. We emphasise how these shifting forms and strategies of cultural work underpinned substantial transformations within the Amber group itself.     

The Consumption of Cultural Products: An Analysis of the Spanish Social Space

This article analyses the social consumption of cultural products by Spaniards from the standpoint of microeconomics and sociology. By comparing Lancaster's ``new consumer theory' to Bourdieu's theory, we show the usefulness of simultaneous analysis of consumption from both perspectives. The results provide evidence supporting the hypothesis of expressive functions, distinction and symbolic properties of cultural products. In addition, the ``new consumer theory' has various implications for both cultural policymaking and marketing of cultural products.     

21世纪面向空间规划的荷兰遗产政策

近年来,在遗产保护与可持续发展整合成为国际焦点的背景下,欧洲强调多部门、多尺度、跨区域协调空间发展的空间规划被视为助力保护与发展整合的有力工具.荷兰作为欧洲空间规划的先行者,在21世纪成为欧洲推动遗产政策融入空间规划的先驱之一,20多年来面向空间规划的遗产政策实践体现出3大趋势,即面向"文化空间"的多样遗产整合,从"部...     

Speech genres and cultural value in the Anglo-American public speaking course as a site of language socialization

Speech genres have a significant role in socializing children and adults not only to speak in culturally appropriate ways but also to present desirable identities. We analyze narratives of self-transformation collected in an undergraduate public speaking course in the United States to learn how the acquisition of public speaking as a speech genre contributes to U.S. students’ language socialization. Our study contributes to two traditions of intercultural communication research, one interested in the context-bound, culturally situated character of Anglo-American speech, and another that seeks to explain how local communication resources, including speech genres, travel across cultural boundaries.     

Subjective well-being in cultural advocacy: a politics of research between the market and the academy

This paper responds to a trend of contracting out subjective well-being econometrics to demonstrate social return on investment (SROI) for evidence-based policy-making. We discuss an evolving ecology of ‘external’ research taking place ‘between’ the academy and commercial consultancy. We then contextualise this as waves of research methodologies and consultancy for the cultural sector. The new model of ‘external between’ consultancy research for policy is not only placed between the University and the market, but also facilitates discourse between policy sectors, government, the media and the academy. Specifically, it enables seductive but selective arguments for advocacy that claim authority through academic affiliation, yet are not evaluated for robustness. To critically engage with an emergent form of what Stone calls ‘causal stories’, we replicate a publicly funded externally commissioned SROI model that argues for the value of cultural activities to well-being. We find that the author’s operationalisation of participation and well-being are crucial, yet their representation of the relationship problematic, and their estimates questionable. This case study ‘re-performs’ econometric modelling national-level survey data for the cultural sector to reveal practices that create norms of expertise for policy-making that are not rigorous. We conclude that fluid claims to authority allow experimental econometric models and measures to perform across the cultural economy as if ratified. This new model of advocacy research requires closer academic consideration given the changing research funding structures and recent attention to expertise and the contracting out of public services.     

The Anthropology of Giving: Toward A Cultural Logic of Charity

Modern elite charity is class-centered and exclusionary, employing charitable exchange ritual, like the primitive potlatch, for structured loss and exchange, both affirming and concealing status and power, obfuscating yet illuminating privilege. Traditional models of charitable giving are often Eurocentric and monocultural, employing a market model-based ‘exchange theory’ assuming that giving is a series of dyadic, reciprocated ‘purchases’ by donors seeking maximum utility. Looking at modern charitable giving as a ‘total social fact’ (Mauss) we can detect patterns behind elite charitable giving that make seeming relinquishment of wealth a declaration of power. Nonprofits are embedded in these dynamics as the elite gift economy expresses itself through modern charitable giving.