IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cue/wpaper/awp-03-2015.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Rational addiction and cultural goods: the case of the Italian theatregoer

Author

Listed:
  • Concetta Castiglione

    (Department of Statistical Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy)

  • Davide Infante

    (Department of Economics, Statistics and Finance, University of Calabria)

Abstract

This paper tests whether demand for theatre in Italy is consistent with the model of rational addiction presented in Becker and Murphy (1988). Data from a novel 34-year panel on regional annual theatre attendance are used to estimate market demand. Four models are applied to investigate the demand function, and all of these also include per capita income and other control variables as regressors. The first two models are estimated to check whether theatregoers are myopically addicted to theatre. The results suggest that the theatre is an addictive good because past consumption (and prices) significantly raises the marginal utility of current consumption. The third model tests the rational addiction hypothesis, which assumes that future attendance also influences current attendance, whilst past and future prices influences current attendance only indirectly through their impact on past and future attendance. However, our most highly specified model, introducing past and future prices, demonstrates that Italian theatregoers are not myopic but fully rational as outlined in Becker and Murphy (1988). The results demonstrate that the rational addiction hypothesis is applicable not only to "harmful" addictions such as alcohol, cigarettes, and drug consumption, but also to "beneficial" addictions, such as theatre attendance.

Suggested Citation

  • Concetta Castiglione & Davide Infante, 2015. "Rational addiction and cultural goods: the case of the Italian theatregoer," ACEI Working Paper Series AWP-03-2015, Association for Cultural Economics International, revised May 2015.
    • Handle: RePEc:cue:wpaper:awp-03-2015
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://files.culturaleconomics.org/papers/AWP-03-2015.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Eiji Yamamura, 2009. "Rethinking rational addictive behaviour and demand for cinema: a study using Japanese panel data," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(7), pages 693-697.
    2. Mikael Bask & Maria Melkersson, 2004. "Rationally addicted to drinking and smoking?," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(4), pages 373-381.
    3. Becker, Gary S & Grossman, Michael & Murphy, Kevin M, 1994. "An Empirical Analysis of Cigarette Addiction," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(3), pages 396-418, June.
    4. Marco Alderighi & Eleonora Lorenzini, 2012. "Cultural goods, cultivation of taste, satisfaction and increasing marginal utility during vacations," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 36(1), pages 1-26, February.
    5. Becker, Gary S & Murphy, Kevin M, 1988. "A Theory of Rational Addiction," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 96(4), pages 675-700, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Alessio Emanuele Biondo & Roberto Cellini & Tiziana Cuccia, 2020. "Choices on museum attendance: An agent‐based approach," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 71(4), pages 882-897, November.
    2. Victoria Ateca-Amestoy & Concetta Castiglione, 2016. "The consumption of cultural goods through the internet. How is it affected by the digital divide?," ACEI Working Paper Series AWP-04-2016, Association for Cultural Economics International, revised May 2016.
    3. Jos� Alberto Molina & Juan Carlos Campa�a & Raquel Ortega, 2016. "Time spent on cultural activities at home in Spain: Differences between wage-earners and the self-employed," Documentos de Trabajo dt2016-01, Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales, Universidad de Zaragoza.
    4. Amir B. Ferreira Neto & Adam Nowak & Amanda Ross, 2017. "Do tourists tip more than local consumers? Evidence of taxi rides in New York City," Working Papers 17-14, Department of Economics, West Virginia University.
    5. Amir B. Ferreira Neto & Adam Nowak & Amanda Ross, 2019. "Do Tourists Tip More Than Local Consumers? Evidence from Taxi Rides in New York City," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 42(3-4), pages 281-306, May.
    6. Geng Chen & Pei Tang, 2021. "Similar but special: an econometric analysis of live performing arts attendance in mainland China," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 45(3), pages 459-490, September.
    7. Molina, Jose Alberto & Campaña, Juan Carlos & Ortega, Raquel, 2015. "Time dedicated by consumers to cultural goods: Determinants for Spain," MPRA Paper 68430, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Massimo Finocchiaro Castro & Isidoro Mazza & Domenica Romeo, 2021. "The Role of Cultural Capital on the Voluntary Contributions to Cultural Goods: A Differential Game Approach," Games, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-11, March.
    9. Molina, Jose Alberto & Campaña, Juan Carlos & Ortega, Raquel, 2015. "What do you prefer for a relaxing and cultural time at home: Reading, watching TV, or listening to the radio?," MPRA Paper 68454, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. D. Dragone & D. Raggi, 2018. "Testing Rational Addiction: When Lifetime is Uncertain, One Lag is Enough," Working Papers wp1119, Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna.
    2. repec:zbw:rwirep:0064 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Pierpaolo Pierani & Silvia Tiezzi, 2009. "Addiction and interaction between alcohol and tobacco consumption," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 37(1), pages 1-23, September.
    4. Dragone, Davide & Raggi, Davide, 2021. "Resolving the milk addiction paradox," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    5. David Aristei & Luca Pieroni, 2008. "A double-hurdle approach to modelling tobacco consumption in Italy," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(19), pages 2463-2476.
    6. Ana Gil & José Molina, 2009. "Alcohol demand among young people in Spain: an addictive QUAIDS," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 36(3), pages 515-530, June.
    7. Junmin Wan, 2006. "Cigarette tax revenues and tobacco control in Japan," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(14), pages 1663-1675.
    8. David Aristei & Luca Pieroni, 2010. "Habits, Complementarities and Heterogeneity in Alcohol and Tobacco Demand: A Multivariate Dynamic Model," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 72(4), pages 428-457, August.
    9. Göhlmann, Silja & Schmidt, Christoph M., 2008. "Smoking in Germany: Stylized Facts, Behavioral Models, and Health Policy," Ruhr Economic Papers 64, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    10. Frank Sloan & Alyssa Platt, 2011. "Information, risk perceptions, and smoking choices of youth," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 42(2), pages 161-193, April.
    11. Silja Göhlmann & Christoph M. Schmidt, 2008. "Smoking in Germany: Stylized Facts, Behavioral Models, and Health Policy," Ruhr Economic Papers 0064, Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universität Dortmund, Universität Duisburg-Essen.
    12. Thomas Demuynck & Ewout Verriest, 2013. "I’Ll Never Forget My First Cigarette: A Revealed Preference Analysis Of The “Habits As Durables” Model," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 54(2), pages 717-738, May.
    13. Hammar, Henrik & Carlsson, Fredrik, 2001. "Smokers' Decisions To Quit Smoking," Working Papers in Economics 59, University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics.
    14. Piccoli, Luca & Tiezzi, Silvia, 2021. "Rational addiction and time-consistency: An empirical test," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    15. Jonathan Guryan & Melissa S. Kearney, 2010. "Is Lottery Gambling Addictive?," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 2(3), pages 90-110, August.
    16. Gregory J. Colman & Dahlia K. Remler, 2008. "Vertical equity consequences of very high cigarette tax increases: If the poor are the ones smoking, how could cigarette tax increases be progressive?," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(2), pages 376-400.
    17. Jeffrey E. Harris & Sandra W. Chan, 1999. "The continuum‐of‐addiction: cigarette smoking in relation to price among Americans aged 15–29," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 8(1), pages 81-86, February.
    18. Philippe Jehiel & Andrew Lilico, 2010. "Smoking Today and Stopping Tomorrow: a Limited Foresight Perspective," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 56(2), pages 141-164, June.
    19. Soares, Rodrigo R., 2015. "Gary Becker’S Contributions In Health Economics," Journal of Demographic Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 81(1), pages 51-57, March.
    20. Nikolay Gospodinov & Ian Irvine, 2005. "A ‘long march’ perspective on tobacco use in Canada," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 38(2), pages 366-393, May.
    21. Smith, Trenton G. & Tasnadi, Attila, 2007. "A theory of natural addiction," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 59(2), pages 316-344, May.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Cultural Theatre demand; rational addiction; panel data; Italy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models
    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • Z10 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - General

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cue:wpaper:awp-03-2015. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Paul Crosby (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aceiiea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.