IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/eid/wpaper/58192.html

The Social Multiplier of Leisure: Peer Effects in Museum Attendance

Author

Listed:
  • Pasquale Accardo

    (University of Bath)

  • Adriano Amati

    (Università Ca' Foscari Venezia)

  • Giovanni Mastrobuoni

    (Collegio Carlo Alberto
    University of Turin
    University of Essex)

Abstract

This study uses a unique longitudinal data set on daily museum visits in Northern Italy to investigate how social networks influence leisure consumption. Based on detailed administrative records of museum cardholders, we use repeated joint visits to build a dynamic network of peers. We identify peer effects that exploit exogenous variation in membership prices generated by age-based discounts. We find robust evidence of peer spillovers in both museum attendance and membership renewal, primarily driven by a preference for shared experiences. These results underscore the role of social interactions in shaping leisure demand and support the view that social networks can amplify individual behavior. More broadly, our findings contribute to the understanding of peer dynamics in settings where consumption is inherently social.

Suggested Citation

  • Pasquale Accardo & Adriano Amati & Giovanni Mastrobuoni, 2025. "The Social Multiplier of Leisure: Peer Effects in Museum Attendance," Department of Economics Working Papers 113/25, University of Bath, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:eid:wpaper:58192
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://purehost.bath.ac.uk/ws/files/376161125/museums.pdf
    File Function: Final published version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Becker, Gary S, 1991. "A Note on Restaurant Pricing and Other Examples of Social Influences on Price," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 99(5), pages 1109-1116, October.
    2. Giacomo De Giorgi & Michele Pellizzari & Silvia Redaelli, 2010. "Identification of Social Interactions through Partially Overlapping Peer Groups," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 2(2), pages 241-275, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Leonardo Bursztyn & Florian Ederer & Bruno Ferman & Noam Yuchtman, 2012. "Understanding Peer Effects in Financial Decisions: Evidence from a Field Experiment," NBER Working Papers 18241, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Insler, Michael & Rahman, Ahmed S. & Smith, Katherine, 2021. "Tracking the Herd with a Shotgun — Why Do Peers Influence College Major Selection?," IZA Discussion Papers 14412, IZA Network @ LISER.
    3. Fishman, Arthur & Fishman, Ram & Gneezy, Uri, 2019. "A tale of two food stands: Observational learning in the field," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 101-108.
    4. Kenan Arifoğlu & Christopher S. Tang, 2023. "Luxury brand licensing: Competition and reference group effects," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 32(10), pages 3227-3245, October.
    5. Hiroshi Kitamura, 2007. "Capacity Expansion in Markets with Intertemporal Consumption Externalities," Discussion Papers in Economics and Business 07-11, Osaka University, Graduate School of Economics.
    6. Magnus A. H. Gulbrandsen, 2021. "Peer effects and debt accumulation: Evidence from lottery winnings," Working Paper 2021/10, Norges Bank.
    7. Soeiro, Renato & Adrego Pinto, Alberto, 2019. "Social power as a solution to the Bertrand Paradox," MPRA Paper 94271, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Ariel BenYishay & A. Mushfiq Mobarak, 2014. "Social Learning and Communication," NBER Working Papers 20139, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Jun Honda, 2015. "Games with the Total Bandwagon Property," Department of Economics Working Papers wuwp197, Vienna University of Economics and Business, Department of Economics.
    10. Bet Caeyers, 2014. "Peer effects in development programme awareness of vulnerable groups in rural Tanzania," CSAE Working Paper Series 2014-11, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford.
    11. Cristiano, Antonelli & Scellato, Giuseppe, 2007. "Complexity and Innovation: Social Interactions and Firm Level Total Factor Productivity," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis LEI & BRICK - Laboratory of Economics of Innovation "Franco Momigliano", Bureau of Research in Innovation, Complexity and Knowledge, Collegio 200709, University of Turin.
    12. Mundt, Philipp, 2021. "The formation of input–output architecture: Evidence from the European Union," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 183(C), pages 89-104.
    13. Corneo, Giacomo & Jeanne, Olivier, 1999. "Segmented communication and fashionable behavior," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 39(4), pages 371-385, July.
    14. Annamaria Fiore & Andrea Morone, 2005. "Is playing alone in the darkness sufficient to prevent informational cascades?," Experimental 0503002, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Michael Suk-Young Chwe, 1998. "Culture, Circles, And Commercials," Rationality and Society, , vol. 10(1), pages 47-75, February.
    16. Tan, Hi-Lin, 2006. "Prices in Networks," MPRA Paper 62984, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Bardsley, Nicholas & Sausgruber, Rupert, 2005. "Conformity and reciprocity in public good provision," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 26(5), pages 664-681, October.
    18. Silvia Mendolia & Alfredo R Paloyo & Ian Walker, 2018. "Heterogeneous effects of high school peers on educational outcomes," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 70(3), pages 613-634.
    19. Alejandra Agustina Martínez, 2023. "Raise your Voice! Activism and Peer Effects in Online Social Networks," Working Papers 277, Red Nacional de Investigadores en Economía (RedNIE).
    20. Anthony Boardman & Shaun Hargreaves-Heap, 1999. "Network Externalities and Government Restrictions on Satellite Broadcasting of Key Sporting Events," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 23(3), pages 165-179, August.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eid:wpaper:58192. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Scholarly Communications Librarian (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/debatuk.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.