THE ECONOMICS OF MOVIES: A LITERATURE SURVEY

Abstract The film industry provides a myriad of interesting problems for economic contemplation. From the initial concept of an idea through production, distribution and finally exhibition there are many aspects to the film project and the film industry that present new and interesting puzzles worthy of investigation. Add to this the high level of data availability, and it is little wonder that an increasing number of researchers are being attracted to this industry. To date, however, there are no comprehensive surveys on the contribution of economists to this literature. This paper attempts to fill this void and unify what is known about the industry. It also identifies and discusses potential areas for new research.     

Interaction of Government Tiers and Central Banks in a Federation: An Empirical Test

Fiscal rules are necessary to protect monetary policy from the consequences of unsustainable or active fiscal policy for inflation. Monetary unions, such as the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), require even stronger fiscal rules to avoid free riding by regional fiscal authorities on the common monetary policy. By contrast, in a fiscal federation, the federal government internalises the effect of active regional policies on the overall price level. Federal fiscal policy contributes to price stability either by enforcing fiscal rules or by adjusting its own stance. Following Canzoneri, Cumby and Diba (2001), we test whether federal and regional governments in Germany behave in an active or passive way. We find evidence of a spillover effect of unsustainable policies on other regions. The German federal government offsets the effect on the price level by running passive policies. The Bundesbank's prime objective of price stability is therefore endorsed by fiscal policy. The results have implications for the regulation of fiscal policies in the EMU.     

Bucharest conversations: What would futurists say to this little girl?

At a round table discussion that took place in Bucharest during a mutual learning workshop, on 9th-11th of June 2010, around 15 futurists were asked to look at this picture of a little African girl. It appears on the cover of UNESCO's Education for All Global Monitoring Report 2010, which has the specific title: ‘Reaching the Marginalized’. The futurists were asked: how would you justify the work you do to the girl in the photograph. Here are some of the answers.     

Income growth and atmospheric pollution in Spain: An input-output approach

The relationships between economic growth and environmental pressures are complex. Since the early nineties, the debate on these relationships has been strongly influenced by the Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis, which states that during the first stage of economic development environmental pressures increase as per capita income increases, but once a critical turning point has been reached these pressures diminish as income levels continue to increase. However, to date such a delinking between economic growth and emission levels has not happened for most atmospheric pollutants in Spain. The aim of this paper is to analyse the relationship between income growth and nine atmospheric pollutants in Spain. In order to obtain empirical outcomes for this analysis, we adopt an input-output approach and use NAMEA data for the nine pollutants. First, we undertake a structural decomposition analysis for the period 1995-2000 to estimate the contribution of various factors to changes in the levels of atmospheric emissions. And second, we estimate the emissions associated with the consumption patterns of different groups of households classified according to their level of expenditure.     

University patenting and technology commercialization – legal frameworks and the importance of local practice

The impact of national legislative frameworks on the higher education sector's contribution to technological innovation is heavily disputed. This paper argues that legislative frameworks may stimulate the development of local practices for the management and exploitation of intellectual property (IP), which in turn determine the level of academic patenting. We present case studies of two comparable universities in each of four selected European countries with different histories of national IP legislation. A within-country analysis shows that a wider range and earlier development of local IP management and exploitation practices are accompanied by higher levels of academic patenting, and that increasing similarity of IP practices is associated with decreasing differences in patenting outputs. A preliminary cross-country analysis reveals an expansion in and increasing similarity of practices for IP management and exploitation in countries with different national IP framework histories. We conclude that adopting Bayh-Dole-like legislation may trigger the development of local IP practices, which stimulate patenting. However, it is not always sufficient and definitely not always necessary. The study concludes with some policy recommendations.     

Reliable entertainment: Spanish consumers' preferences regarding a film's country of origin

• This article contributes to the study of cinema audiences in Europe by analyzing the actual behavior of Spanish moviegoers and their level of satisfaction. We modeled moviegoers' choice of film by country of origin (U.S.A., Spain, and other countries) according to a set of determinants: (1) consumers' interpretation of several sources of information, (2) motivations and (3) choice rules. We found three clear consumer stereotypes related to each type of film: (1) U.S.A. films were preferred by almost everyone (especially families and younger audiences); (2) Spanish films had audiences composed of middle-age and middle-class moviegoers; and (3) European productions were preferred by a social or intellectual elite. U.S.A. films dominate the Spanish market for the reason that they provide most of what moviegoers prefer, namely, familiar, reliable entertainment in Spanish; three characteristics that are not satisfied by Spanish and European films. Additionally, we discuss the implications for the European cultural policy.

Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Modern Perspectives on Fiscal Stabilization Policies

The present paper describes recent research on two central themesof Keynes' General Theory: (i) the social waste associated withrecessions, and (ii) the effectiveness of fiscal policy as astabilization tool. The paper also discusses some evidence onthe extent to which fiscal policy has been used as a stabilizingtool in industrial economies over the past two decades. (JELE32, E63)     

WELFARE IMPLICATIONS OF THE INTERACTION BETWEEN HABITS AND CONSUMPTION EXTERNALITIES*

We analyze the welfare properties of the equilibrium path of a growth model where both habits and consumption externalities affect the utility of consumers. Our analysis highlights the crucial role played by complementarities between externalities and habits in order to generate an inefficient dynamic equilibrium. In particular, we show that the competitive equilibrium is inefficient when consumption externalities and habit‐adjusted consumption are not perfect substitutes.