Paul Kochanowski

Concert Tour Success in North America: An Examination of the Top 100 Tours from 1997 to 2005

Radio airplay, album sales and concerts provide revenues to songwriters, music labels, and musicians. From 1997 to 2005, concert revenues in North America increased from

Models of Superstardom: An Application of the Lotka and Yule Distributions

1.3 billion to

Integrating First-Year Technology and Finite Mathematics Courses.

3.1 billion. We analyze concert trends by investigating pricing and attendance, the superstar phenomenon, and structural changes in the way the concert tour industry operates. To conduct this analysis we look at the performance of the top 100 tours from 1997 to 2005. These data comprise a chart of sorts—an annual review of the performance of the concert industry, with performers being ranked in terms of gross concert revenues.

Investment Decisions with Labor Bottlenecsks

One common measure of success for popular recording artists is the receipt of gold or platinum sales awards. With regard to singles—the focus of this study—a gold award signifies sales of 1 million copies, whereas a platinum award signifies sales of 2 million copies (Recording Industry Association of America). A simple ranking of artists by the number of gold and platinum singles awarded demonstrates that relatively few artists have a great many awards, and that many artists have a few awards (see Tables 1 and 2). This skewness in success is often viewed as evidence of the superstar phenomenon. The superstar phenomenon is proposed to occur in occupations where personal rewards are closely associated with market size, and where, according to Rosen, there is “a strong tendency for both market size and reward to be skewed toward the most talented people in the activity” (845). In the next section we examine theories relating to superstardom. We then introduce two laws of scattering (namely those laws proposed by Lotka and Yule) that may be used to explain differences in success among music performers. We then test these theories against data collected for gold and platinum singles for 1958–2001. The paper concludes with a discussion of our findings.

Compensation With Induced Factor Movements in a Simple General Equilibrium Model

ABSTRACT This paper describes an interdisciplinary project-based mathematics course linked to a computer technology course. The linkage encourages an appreciation of mathematics and technology as students see an immediate use for these skills in completing actual real-world projects. Linking mathematics and technology integrates subjects taught in traditional sections of discrete mathematics with skills and concepts acquired in traditional sections of introduction to computer technology. Placing these related subjects in parallel, we emphasize the linkages and practical applications between the two components. Through this association, students 1) gain comprehension of the relevance of the concepts articulated in both areas; 2) obtain better preparation to apply both skill sets in future academic undertakings; 3) learn finite mathematics; 4) gain basic skills of information technology; and 5) apply mathematics and technology to solve actual projects. The paper emphasizes these linkages by describing projects solved for actual organizations.

Multi‐Stage Markets in the Recording Industry

This paper analyzes the keep‐versus‐replace decision whee labor shortages act as production bottlenecks, which can be lessened to some degree by employing new labor saving equipment. Additional realism is brought to the analysis by explicit consideration of product demand, learning, and multiple product situations.

The Use of Computer Technology in a First-year Finite Mathematics Course

Interjurisdictional compensation can provide an effective method of achieving an optimal provision of public goods in an independent system of local governments, only if all the major side effects of public goods are included in its computation. Previous studies have suggested compensation levels calculated solely on spillins and spillouts of public goods, but in this framework the provision of public goods may induce migration of productive inputs. To incorporate potential movement of factors of production, we recast the local government expenditures problem in a simple general equilibrium framework and estimate the impact of migration on the suggested compensation level. We show that, within reasonable ranges of parameter values of our model, compensation based entirely on output externalities substantially understates the level necessary to achieve an allocatively efficient provision of public goods.