Despite the lack of a clear definition of the concept, “cultural diversity” has remained a core issue for more than a decade (WTO, UNESCO, etc.). The aim of this paper is to begin to fill this gap. We argue that cultural diversity is a multi-dimensional concept and that accurate metrics must rely on three criteria: variety, balance and disparity. We also stress that supplied and consumed diversity have to be distinguished. We apply this set of multiple measures of diversity to publishing data for France over the period 1990–2003. Our main result is that the situation of the publishing industry in terms of cultural diversity is highly dependent on the dimension considered. Hence, diversity increases when variety is the sole consideration, whereas taking balance or disparity into account leads to the opposite conclusion. This issue raises a series of questions about the use of diversity measures in a policy debate concerned with furthering cultural diversity. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2007
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Marcel F. M. Canoy & Jan C. van Ours & Frederick van der Ploeg, 2005.
"The Economics of Books,"
CESifo Working Paper Series
CESifo Working Paper No. , CESifo Group Munich.
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Canoy, Marcel & van der Ploeg, Frederick & van Ours, Jan C, 2005.
"The Economics of Books,"
CEPR Discussion Papers
4892, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
[Downloadable!] (restricted)
Canoy, Marcel & Ours, Jan C. van & Ploeg, Frederick van der, 2005.
"The economics of books,"
Discussion Paper
13, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
[Downloadable!]
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