Caterina Mauri

The radio revolution of the 1920s dramatically expanded access to entertainment and news, facilitating information flow and making knowledge exchange considerably cheaper. It also pro- foundly transformed markets for live and recorded music and redefined the labor market for musi- cians. Over less than a decade the number of musicians in the US increased by almost 36%. Radio broadcasting created a national market for music that made some musicians wealthy and brought music to places that had previously experienced little of it.

Joint with Karol Borowiecki

Published: 22 September 2023

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10824-023-09481-y

Creative workers strive to achieve success and influence by producing original output. In this paper we define and measure originality and influence, based on a new model of style. We apply the methodology to Western classical music composed since the 15th century, and test it using extensive data on the content of musical compositions, popular success, and biographical information. We find that more original composers tend to be more influential upon the work of their later peers and more successful with present-day audiences. A positive association between originality and influence also holds across works by a given composer.

This paper studies intra-household inequality around the turn of the 20th century in the United States using household surveys conducted in 1888, 1917-1919, and 1935-1936. In the space of a few decades electricity and a range of household appliances diffused rapidly among American households. These technological changes transformed housework by making old tasks obsolete or much easier while making new comforts possible.

Joint with Alexander Wolf

Published: 09 October 2020

http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10824-020-09395-z

Women and men differ in their tastes for the performing arts. Gender differences have been shown to persist after accounting for socio-economic factors. This paper uses this difference to shed light on how decisions on arts consumption are made in households. Based on relatively recent theoretical developments in the literature on household decision making, we use three different so- called distribution factors to show for the first time that the relative bargaining power of spouses affects their arts consumption.

Using a sample from the US Current Population Survey, which includes data on the frequency of visits to cultural activities, we regress attendance on a range of socio-economic variables using a count data model. The distribution factors consistently affect attendance by men at events such as the opera, ballet and other dance performances, which are more frequently attended by women than by men. We conclude that more powerful men attend such events less frequently.

Joint with Roberto Zanola

A large body of literature has shown that art appreciation depends on the context in which art is experienced as well as on individual characteristics of the observer. In this study we assess how liking rankings of Picasso paintings are revised upon revelation of price information and how this effect differs between individuals. Previous literature on the impact of monetary contextual information on liking ratings of art has focused on priming individuals in such a way that they would not be confronted with the fact that their answers are being influenced (Lauring et al., 2016). This paper uses data from a survey in which participants are asked to rank a set of 8 paintings and given the chance to revise the ranking upon revelation of price information. Results showed a significant effect of auction prices on the direction of the revision. Rankings are found to be revised in the direction suggested by the ranking implied by auction prices. Certain individual characteristics such as family background and respondents’ art attendance moderate this effect.

Joint with Jef Vlegels and Walter Ysebaert

https://journals.openedition.org/brussels/1721

This article is aimed at describing the Cultural and Creative (CC) economy in the Brussels Capital Region (BCR) and it seeks to provide a solid basis for discussions of this part of the economy, and of policy choices that affect it.