Samuel Cameron

A review of the econometric evidence on the effects of capital punishment

Abstract This paper chiefly surveys the econometric work on the effect of capital punishment. It also provides a case study of how econometric methods are used by economists in an area where it is not always easy to keep prior belief separate from scientific inquiry.

Rational addiction and the demand for cinema

This paper estimates Beckers rational addiction model using a demand for cinema equation. The results do not seem to be strongly supportive of the rational addiction model. As in Becker, Murphy, Grossman we find a significant coefficient on the lead consumption term and a quite plausible discount rate in OLS estimation with significant price effects. However the IV estimates preferred by Becker et al. fails to give support for any elements of the model.

On the Role of Critics in the Culture Industry

Despite a substantial literature on the economics of the arts, there has been virtually no analysis of the role of criticism in the market for the arts. This paper discusses a number of problems which emerge in attempting such an analysis.

Satellite broadcasting and match attendance: the case of rugby league

A recent development in the UK television industry has been the emergence of satellite and cable broadcasting. We examine the entrance of the BSkyB satellite network into the coverage of the first division of the rugby football league over the 1993-94 season. This paper extends the familiar model of sport attendance to incorporate the live television transmission of games which is found to exert a negative influence on attendance. Our result suggests considerable scope for future research in this neglected aspect of the factors affecting sport attendance.

Estimates of a model of male participation in the market for female heterosexual prostitution services

In this paper a simple model is presented that considers the factors influencing male decisions concerning whether or not to consume, at the margin, female prostitution services. Data from an extensively piloted and sophisticated national survey of sexual attitudes and lifestyles were used to test the predictions. Health risks of consumption, religious denomination and factors signalling variations in inherent risk disposition are shown to explain consumption of such services.

The demand for cinema in the United Kingdom

J^emand functions for leisure activities such as sport (Cairns, Jennett & Sloane, 1986) and theatre-going (Moore, 1968, Withers, 1980, Kelejian & Lawrence, 1980) have been estimated by economists. Relatively little work has been done on the cinema (Spraos, 1962, Cameron, 1986, Cameron, 1988). Cinema attendances have fallen rapidly since the 1950s. As this accompanied a rapid growth in incomes we might suspect that the cinema is an inferior good. Higher income may have caused a switch to activities such as opera and ballet which might be superior goods (Browning & Sorrell, 1954, Halsey, 1972, Throsby and Withers, 1979). Household expenditure survey data for Australia (Throsby & Withers, 1979, p.104) and Great Britain (Cameron, 1986, p.52) shows a consistent increase in spending on cinema attendance as income rises suggesting that it is a normal good. Attempts to isolate the income elasticity of demand for cinema, using econometric methods, have failed to find anything of statistical significance whether using cross-section data (Spraos, 1962) or time series (Cameron, 1986, 1988). This paper uses pooled cross-section time-series data which provides a well defined positive income elasticity so long as a log-linear functional form is used.

Prostitution services: an exploratory empirical analysis

This study provides an empirical analysis of the market for some male prostitution services in the UK. Flexible working hours, part-time working, and multiple job holding are considered as important labour market characteristics in this service sector. Statistical models helping explain the provision of a deviant and a more mainstream sexual service is reported, utilizing cross-section data drawn from individual prostitute advertisements. The significance of various declared intrinsic endowments of the prostitutes are examined in relation to the offer of these services, including age, ethnicity, physique, and masculine demeanour.

Transaction costs and partnerships: The case of rock bands

Abstract This paper applies transaction cost economics to rock bands. It develops the importance of asset specificity. A number of phenomena in the field are shown to be explicable in terms of transactions costs.

The impact of video recorders on cinema attendance

Cinema attendances in the United Kingdom and the United States have been subject to severe declines in the post-war period. Fairly strong evidence (Belson, 1958) exists that the arrival and development of television contributed powerfully to the initial decline. As televisions now populate almost every home we would expect this influence to have worked itself out. The 1980s have seen the arrival of videos as a new threat to cinema takings. Analysts of the industry have been suggesting (Docherty et. al., 1986), (Variety, 1985) that the threat is more apparent than real with demographic factors and/or poor films being the cause of more recent audience declines. These claims derive from casual inspection of ticket receipts (Variety, 1985) or one-off surveys of consumer attitudes (Docherty et. al., 1986). To date there has been no concrete evidence offered for or against the impact of video. Such evidence is hard to gather because of data limitations. This is particularly the case for the U.S. where there is the added complication of diffusion of pay TV. The U.K. is free from this complication as pay TV is still extremely rare and monthly price and attendance figures are available until their publication ceased in May 1985. In this note we use a demand equation to discuss what ticket sales would have been in the period (January 1983 onwards) when video access began to gather impetus. Comparison of the equation results with actual ticket sales suggests a marked reduction which may tentatively be attributed to the VCR.

Are Greek smokers rational addicts

Greek cigarette comsumption is examined by combining work by Zanias (1987) and Becker et al. (1994). Application of Becker et al.s lead consumption term to the Zanias model yields results that do not strongly support the rational addiction model and show price and income as insignificant.