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on Cultural Economics |
| By: | Makowsky, Michael |
| Abstract: | Arguments for and against the existence of an American cultural divide are frequently placed in a religious context. This paper seeks to establish that, all politics aside, the American religious divide is real, that modern religious polarization is not a uniquely American phenomenon, and that religious divides can be understood as naturally emergent within the club theory of religion. Analysis of the 2005 Baylor Religion reveals a bimodal distribution of religious commitment in the US. International survey data reveals bimodal distributions in twenty-eight of thirty surveyed countries. The club theory of religion, when applied in a multi-agent model, generates bimodal distributions of religious commitment whose emergence correlates to substitutability of club goods for standard goods and the mean population wage rate. Ramifications of religious bimodality include potential instability of majority rule electoral outcomes. Median estimators, such as majority rule democracy, are non-robust with bimodal distributions. When religion is politically salient and polarized, small errors can disproportionately shift the election result from the preferences of the median voter. |
| Keywords: | Culture Divide; Religious Divide; Club Theory; Multi-Agent Model; Sacrifice |
| JEL: | Z12 D71 C63 |
| Date: | 2009–03–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:14359&r=cul |
| By: | Alberto Chong; Eliana La Ferrara |
| Abstract: | En este trabajo se analiza el vínculo entre la televisión y el divorcio en Brasil mediante el estudio de la variación en la distribución temporal de la disponibilidad de la señal de Rede Globo —la red televisiva que tenía prácticamente el monopolio de las telenovelas en el país— en zonas municipales. Se emplean tres rondas de datos de censo (1970, 1980 y 1991) y se controlan los efectos fijos por área y por características que varían con el tiempo, y se descubre que la parte de la población femenina que se separa o divorcia aumenta considerablemente una vez que la señal de Globo llega a la localidad. El efecto es robusto al control de factores determinantes potenciales de la estrategia de entrada de Globo y es más fuerte aún en el caso de zonas relativamente más pequeñas, donde la señal llega a un sector mayor de la población. |
| Keywords: | Divorce, Television, Brazil, Soap Operas, Media, Women, Empowerment |
| JEL: | O1 J12 N36 |
| Date: | 2009–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:wpaper:4621&r=cul |
| By: | Gabriel Ahlfeldt (Chair for Economic Policy, University of Hamburg); Bastian Franke; Wolfgang Maennig (Chair for Economic Policy, University of Hamburg) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses how German tourists react to unanticipated shocks that alter their risk perception of selected tourism destinations. Using a difference-in-difference strategy which flexibly accounts for macroeconomic conditions and also addresses potential problems of serial correlation, we isolate significant effects of the 9/11 (2001) terrorist attacks, as well as for the attacks in Egypt (1997), Tunisia (2002), Morocco (2003) and Indonesia (2003). These terror attacks impacted especially on Islamic countries all over the world, indicating a transmission mechanism driven by ethnic and religious proximity. At the same time, tourism into Islamic countries was temporarily substituted by tourism to (south) European countries. |
| Keywords: | Keywords: Terrorism; 9/11; Islamic Countries; Tourism Demand |
| JEL: | R19 D89 |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hce:wpaper:024&r=cul |
| By: | Kalka, Regine (Department of Economics of the Duesseldorf University of Applied Sciences); Krähling, Sabrina (Department of Economics of the Duesseldorf University of Applied Sciences) |
| Abstract: | Trade fairs need the media, and the media needs trade fairs. Trade fairs are events that attract extensive media coverage, and thus also many journalists. This is why the PR work of trade fair companies is a multifaceted field, which must take into account a variety of influential factors. Cooperation with media professionals is vitally important for project-related PR in particular. Continuous and balanced press work utilizing the full spectrum of PR measures is indispensable for such cooperation. Trade fairs and the media work in a partnership, and they are mutually dependent. To strengthen this partnership and to ensure that both sides can enjoy the most effective working relationship, methods must be used that not only ensure an optimal supply of information to media professionals, but that also maximise benefits for trade fair companies. Multimedia communication technology makes it possible to provide the most important information to journalists and media representatives in a rapid and affordable manner. As the primary research and publishing tool used by both sides, the Internet is playing an important role in PR today. The web can intensify the notion that PR is a service for the media, as something that makes it much easier for the journalists to do their jobs. But nevertheless, trade fairs are gathering places, opinion-shaping events and marketplaces that, unlike other enterprises, offer a product that brings together representatives from the worlds of business, politics and the media — at one location. This is why public relations must do more than just provide information. Multimedia PR can ease the workload of media professionals, but it cannot replace personal relationships. The top priority of public relations departments at trade fair companies should be to build trust and to work to ensure enduring, consistent partnerships. The possibilities of multimedia communication technology can only supplement such efforts. But the basis for maintaining these relationships is still personal contact and face-to-face discussions between PR specialists and media representatives. And trade fairs, which are media events and communicative marketplaces, are especially well-suited venues for such interaction and conversations. |
| Keywords: | trade fairs, media, public relations, multimedia based communication technology, multimedia based PR |
| JEL: | M30 |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ddf:wpaper:fobe07&r=cul |
| By: | Sam Schulhofer-Wohl; Miguel Garrido |
| Abstract: | The Cincinnati Post published its last edition on New Year's Eve 2007, leaving the Cincinnati Enquirer as the only daily newspaper in the market. The next year, fewer candidates ran for municipal office in the suburbs most reliant on the Post, incumbents became more likely to win re-election, and voter turnout fell. We exploit a difference-in-differences strategy -- comparing changes in outcomes before and after the Post's closure in suburbs where the newspaper offered more or less intensive coverage -- and the fact that the Post's closing date was fixed 30 years in advance to rule out some non-causal explanations for these results. Although our findings are statistically imprecise, they demonstrate that newspapers -- even underdogs such as the Post, which had a circulation of just 27,000 when it closed -- can have a substantial and measurable impact on public life. |
| JEL: | H70 K21 L82 N82 |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14817&r=cul |