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History matters: The origins of cultural supply in Italy

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Abstract
I investigate the consequences of long-run persistence of a societies’ preference towards cultural goods. Historical cultural activity is approximated with the frequency of births of classical composers during the Renaissance and is linked with contemporary supply of cultural activities in Italian provinces. Areas with a one-standard-deviation higher number of composer births expose nowadays up to 0.4 standard deviations higher supply of cultural activities (such as concerts or theater performances). Those provinces seem to exhibit today also a somewhat lower supply of non-cultural activities. The results point at a tantalising divergence in societies’ cultural preferences which is attributable to events rooted long in the past. Furthermore, the findings imply a remarkable persistency of the geography of artistic activity. While human capital is found to be potentially a driver for spill-over effects across different cultural disciplines over time, other unobservable factors, such as societies’ preference traits, determine the persistency within most closely related cultural areas.

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  • Borowiecki, Karol Jan, 2012. "History matters: The origins of cultural supply in Italy," Discussion Papers on Economics 15/2012, University of Southern Denmark, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:sdueko:2012_015
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Hysteresis in cultural supply
      by Economic Logician in Economic Logic on 2012-09-11 19:44:00

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    Cited by:

    1. Concetta Castiglione & Roberto Zanola, 2019. "The Demand and Supply for Popular Culture: Evidence from Italian Circuses," Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti, Springer;Società Italiana degli Economisti (Italian Economic Association), vol. 5(3), pages 349-367, October.
    2. Yann Algan & Pierre Cahuc, 2010. "Inherited Trust and Growth," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(5), pages 2060-2092, December.
    3. Karol Jan Borowiecki & Trilce Navarrete, 2018. "Fiscal and economic aspects of book consumption in the European Union," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 42(2), pages 309-339, May.
    4. Etro, Federico & Marchesi, Silvia & Stepanova, Elena, 2020. "Liberalizing art. Evidence on the Impressionists at the end of the Paris Salon," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    5. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/432sbils8u9t7qa99cii5psht1 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Borowiecki, Karol Jan & Dahl, Christian Møller, 2021. "What makes an artist? The evolution and clustering of creative activity in the US since 1850," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    7. Borowiecki, Karol Jan & Graddy, Kathryn, 2021. "Immigrant artists: Enrichment or displacement?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 191(C), pages 785-797.
    8. Borowiecki, Karol J. & Bakhshi, Hasan, 2018. "Did you really take a hit? Understanding how video games playing affects individuals," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(2), pages 313-326.
    9. Federico Etro & Elena Stepanova, 2017. "Art Auctions and Art Investment in the Golden Age of British Painting," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 64(2), pages 191-225, May.
    10. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/432sbils8u9t7qa99cii5psht1 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Federico Etro & Elena Stepanova, 2016. "Entry of painters in the Amsterdam market of the Golden Age," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 26(2), pages 317-348, May.
    12. Etro, Federico, 2018. "The Economics of Renaissance Art," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 78(2), pages 500-538, June.
    13. Cheng, Nora & Fan, Elliott & Wu, Tsong-Min, 2022. "Sweet unbinding: Sugarcane cultivation and the demise of foot-binding," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    14. Yann Algan & Pierre Cahuc, 2010. "Inherited Trust and Growth," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(5), pages 2060-2092, December.
    15. Alexander Cuntz, 2023. "Grand rights and opera reuse today," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 75(1), pages 206-232.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Economic development; culture; institutions; path dependence; endogenous preferences;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N33 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - Europe: Pre-1913
    • N34 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - Europe: 1913-
    • O10 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - General
    • Z10 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - General

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