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Does culture affect local productivity and urban amenities?

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  • Boualam, Brahim

Abstract

Does a better cultural milieu make a city more livable for residents and improve its business environment for firms? I compute a measure of cultural specialization for 346 U.S. metropolitan areas and ask if differences in cultural environment across cities capitalize into housing price and wage differentials. Simple correlations replicate standard results from the literature: cities that are more specialized in cultural occupations enjoy higher factor prices. Estimations using time-series data, controlling for city characteristics and correcting for endogeneity weaken the magnitude of this effect. Even though the arts and culture might be appealing to some people and firms, such determinants are not strong enough to affect factor prices at the city level.

Suggested Citation

  • Boualam, Brahim, 2014. "Does culture affect local productivity and urban amenities?," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 12-17.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:regeco:v:46:y:2014:i:c:p:12-17
    DOI: 10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2014.01.008
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    4. Burlina, Chiara & Casadei, Patrizia & Crociata, Alessandro, 2023. "Economic complexity and firm performance in the cultural and creative sector: evidence from Italian provinces," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 116979, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    5. Stefan Leknes, 2014. "Quality of life and population size: Causal evidence with historical mines," Working Paper Series 15714, Department of Economics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
    6. Stuart Donovan & Thomas de Graaff & Henri L. F. de Groot & Carl C. Koopmans, 2024. "Unraveling urban advantages—A meta‐analysis of agglomeration economies," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(1), pages 168-200, February.
    7. Erdem Ucar, 2019. "Creative culture, risk‐taking, and corporate financial decisions," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 25(3), pages 684-717, June.
    8. Dalvai, Wilfried, 2016. "Urban cultural amenities and the migration of the creative class," Thuenen-Series of Applied Economic Theory 143, University of Rostock, Institute of Economics.
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    10. Chun‐Yu Ho & Yue Sheng, 2022. "Productivity advantage of large cities for creative industries," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 101(6), pages 1289-1306, December.
    11. Yan Song & Jiang Zhou & Yingjie Zhang & Dingxin Wu & Honghai Xu, 2022. "How Much Are Amenities Worth? An Empirical Study on Urban Land and Housing Price Differentials across Chinese Cities," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-16, June.
    12. Joséphine Leuba, 2019. "Natural amenities and the spatial distribution of Swiss income," IRENE Working Papers 19-04, IRENE Institute of Economic Research.
    13. Fredrik Carlsen & Stefan Leknes, 2019. "The paradox of the unhappy, growing city: reconciling evidence," Discussion Papers 907, Statistics Norway, Research Department.
    14. Leknes, Stefan, 2015. "The more the merrier? Evidence on quality of life and population size using historical mines," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 1-17.
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    19. Tao, Jin & Ho, Chun-Yu & Luo, Shougui & Sheng, Yue, 2019. "Agglomeration economies in creative industries," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 141-154.

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