Does film criticism affect box office earnings? Evidence from movies released in the U.S. in 2003

In a market characterized by a very large number of consumers, irregularly and infrequently choosing from a constantly changing menu of possibilities, widely available impartial information and advice would be expected to make a significant impact on demand. In the U.S. in 2003, however, there was zero correlation between critical ratings for films and gross box office earnings. For movies released on more than 1,000 screens, critical ratings were indeed positively related to gross earnings, and, together with production budgets and the number of opening screens, explained more than half the variance. But films with only limited opening release received higher average ratings. This is especially the case for foreign movies and documentaries but also true for American films, whose ratings, though positively related to the box office, seldom have enough influence to propel a movie into later wide exhibition or high earnings.

“Shoppers' Republic of China”: Orientalism in Neoliberal U.S. News Discourse

In light of China's recent ascent as the world's second largest economy, this article critically engages with current U.S. public discourses around China. In particular, we explore how Orientalist knowledge about China is appropriated within neoliberal contexts. Our ideological analysis of news regarding China in the New York Times revealed three themes: (a) The Shoppers' Republic of China; (b) China's responsibility to consume; and (c) China as the space outside international law. Our analysis underpins the relevance of theorizing the interplay between Orientalism and neoliberalism in contemporary U.S. mainstream discourses of China.     

Market Concentration Levels in the U.S. Consumer Book Industry: 1995–1996

While many scholars have studied the impact mergersand acquisitions have had on market concentrationlevels in various industries, few have addressed theconsumer book market, an important U.S. culturalindustry. This paper: (1) defines the consumer bookmarket; and (2) using consumer book mergers, salesdata, the U.S. Department of Justice's 1992 mergerguidelines, the Herfindahl–Hirschman Index, andfour-firm and eight-firm concentration ratios testswhether an illegal level of market concentration or aviolation of Justice's antitrust guidelines wereevident in 1995 and 1996. Data on market entrybarriers, outputs, and prices are also analyzed.     

Growth,accessibility and the distribution of arts activity in the United States: 1980 to 1990

Using data on the location of artists by state as a proxy for the location of artistic activity, this paper shows that from 1980 to 1990 the arts grew rapidly and became more dispersed, reversing a trend toward greater concentration during the 1970s. Accessibility increased as the ratio of artists to population rose in most states. Nevertheless, enormous inter-state variation in that ratio remains. The second part of the paper examines the determinants of artist location at the state level. The equations estimated for both years prove to have a high degree of explanatory power.This paper was presented at the 9th international conference of the Association for Cultural Economics, held in Boston, May 8–11, 1996.