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Ich Bin Auch ein Lemming: Herding and Consumption Capital in Arts and Culture

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  • Dominic Rohner
  • Anna Winestein
  • Bruno S. Frey

Abstract

Trends in arts and culture tend to be longer-lasting and less fragile than in other fields such as clothing design. Most herding models are not able to explain such stability, instead predicting informational cascades to be fragile and fads to be frequent. The present contribution is able to explain the hysterisis of trends in arts by incorporating the accumulation of consumption capital into a herding model. Further, the model is tested empirically by analyzing measures of relative and absolute concentration in the television business. It is concluded that by being exposed to art and culture people accumulate consumption capital for a particular style or artist and that this mechanism tends to make herding in arts stable over time.

Suggested Citation

  • Dominic Rohner & Anna Winestein & Bruno S. Frey, 2006. "Ich Bin Auch ein Lemming: Herding and Consumption Capital in Arts and Culture," IEW - Working Papers 270, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - University of Zurich.
    • Handle: RePEc:zur:iewwpx:270
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    File URL: https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/52227/1/iewwp270.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Dick Stanley & Judy Rogers & Sandra Smeltzer & Luc Perron, 2000. "Win, Place or Show: Gauging the Economic Success of the Renoir and Barnes Art Exhibits," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 24(3), pages 243-255, August.
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    1. Brown misses the point on celebrity
      by chris dillow in Stumbling and Mumbling on 2007-04-16 18:26:16

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Art; Culture; Herding; Consumption Capital; Concentration;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C11 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Bayesian Analysis: General
    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design
    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
    • Z11 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economics of the Arts and Literature

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