nep-cul 2024-04-29 papers

on Cultural Economics

Issue of 2024‒04‒29
two papers chosen by
Roberto Zanola, Università degli Studi del Piemonte Orientale

The Impact of the Prehistoric Out-of-Africa Migration on Cultural Diversity By Oded Galor; Marc Kemp; Daniel C. Wainstock
Beliefs That Entertain By Gandhi, Ashvin; Giuliano, Paola; Guan, Eric; Keefer, Quinn; McDonald, Chase; Pagel, Michaela; Tasoff, Joshua

The Impact of the Prehistoric Out-of-Africa Migration on Cultural Diversity

By:	Oded Galor; Marc Kemp; Daniel C. Wainstock
Abstract:	Evidence suggests that the prehistoric out-of-Africa Migration has impacted the degree of intra-population genetic and phenotypic diversity across the globe. This paper provides the first evidence that this migration has shaped cultural diversity. Leveraging a folklore catalogue of 958 oral traditions across the world, we find that ethnic groups further away from East Africa along the migratory routes have lower folkloric diversity. This pattern is consistent with the compression of genetic, phenotypic, and phonemic traits along the out-of-Africa migration routes, setting conditions for the emergence and proliferation of differential cultural diversity and economic development across the world.
Date:	2023
URL:	http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bro:econwp:2023-002&r=cul

Beliefs That Entertain

By:	Gandhi, Ashvin (NBER); Giuliano, Paola (University of California, Los Angeles); Guan, Eric (Riot Games); Keefer, Quinn (California State University San Marcos); McDonald, Chase (Riot Games); Pagel, Michaela (NBER); Tasoff, Joshua (Claremont Graduate University)
Abstract:	Economic research on entertainment is scant despite its large share of time use. We test economic theories of belief-based utility in the context of video-game engagement. Using data on 2.8 million matches from League of Legends, we find evidence supporting reference-dependent preferences, loss aversion, preferences for surprise and suspense, preferences for clumped surprise, and flow theory from psychology. We then leverage our estimated model and an evolutionary algorithm to find the information-revealing process that maximizes player engagement. We find that the optimal version of the game has increased game play equivalent to 43% of the winner-loser gap.
Keywords:	belief-based utility, reference-dependent utility, suspense and surprise, loss aversion, video games, entertainment design
JEL:	D8 D9
Date:	2024–03
URL:	http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16877&r=cul

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