Knocking on Hell’s door. Dismantling hate with cultural consumption

How local cultural activities influence development and human behaviour is gaining growing attention in economic geography. Small scale experimental evidence shows that cultural consumption is effective in countering hate. This is crucial, as hate, in turn, has a negative influence on the socioeconomic performance of places. Still, little is known on this, outside few more qualitative case studies. This paper provides a quantitative measure of the impact of cultural consumption on hate events in the Italian NUTS3 regions. IV estimation using a unique longitudinal database, with georeferenced hate manifestations and a population-based measure for cultural consumption, shows that cultural consumption determines a reduction in hate events. Our findings support the idea that cultural change acts a key enabling factor for people open-mindedness and inclusiveness of places. Moreover, our results hold even after various robustness checks, suggesting the need for policy interventions promoting cultural consumption.