Evaluating the demand for cultural goods: just income and tastes do matter?

Cultural goods refer to a broad area, sometimes difficult to isolate.Amongst other cultural sites, museums can be regarded as a bundle ofcultural goods that play a relevant role as a repository of heritage roots,cultural diversity, education and able to exert several spill-over effects.However, little is still known on the determinants that affect the demandfor cultural goods. Based on a microeconomic theoretical framework, theobjective of this paper is to assess what factors influence the intensity ofattendance to a museum. This aim is pursued by applying a quantile regressionfor count data models, a là Machado and Santos Silva, to culturalconsumer data gathered at the end of the visit to an Italian NationalArchaeological Museum in 2011. On the one hand, the findingsindicate that economic factors and tastes may not be the only determinantsto affect demand for cultural goods, as the intrinsic characteristicsof cultural sites may be also a key factor that influences future attendance.On the other hand, results highlight that different consumer segmentsmay benefit from ad hoc policy strategies. Although, the empirical investigationis based on a specific museum, the paper offers an overalltheoretical framework that can be generalised to other cultural sites.