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Are new concert halls worth it?
Here is a good NYT article, and here is my favorite part:
“This is all redistributing people’s expenditures from one activity to another,” said David Galenson, an economist at the University of Chicago who focuses on the arts.
Tyler Cowen, a professor of economics at George Mason University and the author of “Good and Plenty: The Creative Successes of American Arts Funding,” said there was little solid research measuring the economic impact of arts centers on a city, although there was for sports stadiums. Such research shows no benefit for a city’s growth, he said, adding that he was skeptical about economic claims for new concert halls.
“The glorious tales are typically exaggerations,” said Mr. Cowen, who also contributes a monthly economics column to The New York Times.
Posted by Tyler Cowen on September 4, 2006 at 05:10 PM in The Arts | Permalink
Comments
I don't know about concert halls,
but local anecdotal evidence in the
Shenandoah Valley suggests that the
building of the Blackfriars Theater
in Staunton, VA, the first such
replica in the world of the original
indoor theater to show Shakespeare's
plays, has had a definitely stimulating
effect on the city's economy.
Posted by: Barkley Rosser at Sep 4, 2006 5:47:42 PM
How fitting that this post should appear hard on the heels of all the envy debate. An arts center is one of the most concentrated point sources of status pollution.
Posted by: Paul Zrimsek at Sep 4, 2006 7:29:51 PM
In a study I did for the C.D. Howe Institute a few years ago, I found that real estate values in Stratford, Ontario, and in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, both of which host summer-long major theatre festivals, were much higher than in nearby comparable communities. Here's a link to the study:
http://www.cdhowe.org/pdf/commentary_161.pdf
Posted by: EclectEcon at Sep 4, 2006 9:27:54 PM
EclectEcon - Both those are towns that generate a large part of their annual income from cultural activities and associated tourism: does that make them a different category to big city concert halls like Toronto Opera House, which will cater mainly to Toronto residents?
Posted by: tom s. at Sep 4, 2006 9:33:13 PM
Wealthy people are eager to donate money for the construction of concert halls. No one's going to donate money for sports stadiums (excluding quid pro quo deals like the sale of naming rights).
Posted by: Peter at Sep 4, 2006 11:52:42 PM
Do the wealthy donors end up giving a greater percentage of the costs for concert halls compared to how much sports teams owners put up for their stadiums? In some places the cities pay for the whole thing, but in NY for example Steinbrenner is putting up 80% of the money for the new Yankee Stadium. Do the donors put up 80% or more for the concert halls? If they can put up 85% or 90% of the costs, why not have them pay for the whole thing?
I realize that the owners get to keep the stadiums they help pay for, but either way we're talking about whether it makes sense for the government to pay for them based on the supposed economic benefits. I'd have to say no in both cases.
Posted by: Hei Lun Chan at Sep 5, 2006 1:56:44 AM
New concert Halls will probably bring in more people, just because of
the new concert hall being a new attraction. Also it may not
neccesarily attract more people than normal if the concert hall is
located in a large city or heavily populated area who are fans of the
groups that are participating in the new concert hall. At first everyone
will want to come to it, just to see what it looks like probably.
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Posted by: at Oct 14, 2008 12:00:51 AM
