Cultural Economics (The Economy Key Ideas)

The cultural industries and their products and services make a significant contribution to the global economy and are seen as strategic sectors for sustainable economic growth. However, industries such as art, design, film, music, performing arts, publishing, television and radio, present particular challenges for economic analysis. They can be goods or services that are both public and private, protected by copyright and freely available, consumed and created, as well as susceptible to fashion and technological development. In this fascinating introduction to the cultural economy, Christiane Hellmanzik examines the market for creative work and reveals the economic relationships between human creativity, intellectual property and technology. Through the careful use of case studies, the book explores the core economic considerations such as supply and demand, competition and pricing, alongside macro trends such as globalization, digitalization and the internet, which are changing the industry’s business models. Cover 1 Half-title 3 Series information 4 Title page 5 Copyright information 6 Table of contents 7 Acknowledgments 9 1 Introducing cultural economics 11 The economic toolbox 12 The field of cultural economics 14 Big data and cultural insights 17 The role of culture in the economy 18 A roadmap for creative activities 19 Summary 21 2 Markets, prices and agents 23 Types of goods and services 23 The market model 24 Industrial organization in creative industries 27 Markets at work: a pop concert 28 Case study: art auctions 32 Summary 35 3 Society and culture: public provision and institutional aspects 37 Culture as a public good 37 Institutional issues in the public provision of culture 42 There is no free lunch 44 Protection versus freedom 46 Case study: political preferences and cultural spending 48 Summary 51 4 Demand for culture 53 Preferences 54 Pay as much as you want 59 Consume to impress 60 Is a painting an investment? 61 Case study: Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam 64 Summary 66 5 Artists, superstars and creativity 67 Superstar theory 68 The winner takes it all 69 The tail: one-hit wonders 71 Working for a living: artists’ labour markets 72 Location matters 73 Economics of creativity 74 Case study: discrimination in artistic labour markets 78 Summary 80 6 Quality in the arts and culture 83 The merits of quantification and rankings 86 Markets: the more the better? 87 Other consumers’ assessment: how many stars shine on Amazon? 89 Expert assessment: the jury is still out 90 And the artists themselves? 92 It is easier to judge the dead: assessing historic artists’ quality 93 Case study: taste is fickle and hindsight is the real deal 94 Summary 96 7 The organization of cultural industries 97 Concentration in the creative economy 98 The cost of production 101 Structure conduct performance 103 The art of the deal: principal–agent relationships 104 Case study: who needs an agent? Two examples of principal–agent relationships over time 106 Summary 108 8 The internet’s impact on cultural sectors 111 Music industry: from goods to services 112 Music industry II: live show complementarities 116 Broadcasting: the death of television 116 The book market: e-reader versus “real” books 121 Principal–agent dynamic gone digital in the book market 123 Libraries: chambers of culture? 124 Case study: where do all the streamers go? Silicon Valley and the streaming industry 126 Summary 128 9 Globalization’s impact on cultural sectors 129 Globalization and culture 130 Globalization in numbers I: cultural goods in the European Union 133 Globalization in numbers II: cultural services across the globe 134 Art markets go global 136 Cultural exceptions and the dissemination of tastes 138 Case study: opera and orchestras around the globe 140 Summary 142 10 Conclusion 143 References 147 Index 153 Cultural Economics investigates and analyses the contribution to and role of the creative industries and their products and services in the overall economy. From the performance arts to television, from the internet to paintings and publishing, the creative industries can be goods or services that are both public and private, protected by copyright, consumed, created, auctioned and susceptible to fashion and technological development. In this fascinating introduction to the field, Christiane Hellmanzik unpacks the complexity of the issues at stake and through the careful use of case studies illuminates the challenges that the creative industries present for economic analysis. Topics covered include the demand for culture, investment, the superstar theory and the impact of globalization and the internet on markets and industrial models