Revealed individual attendance at Italian theatre: a microeconomic investigation

Abstract

This paper investigates theatre consumption in Italy in 3 years, 1995, 2000 and 2006 using data provided by the Italian Institute of Statistics (2006 the latest year for such data) and the Italian Society of Authors and Publishers. These data sets are very large and rarely analysed in the current economic literature. Explanatory variables are determined by identifying their contributions to both the probability to attend, and the probability to attend more, using the finite mixture regression model. Socio-demographic and socio-economic characteristics, participation in other cultural activities, ticket price and theatre supply are taken into account to varying extents. Three main findings emerge based on a more generous sample than past analyses. The strong confirmation of a priori expectations for education and occupation variables. The different impact of explanatory variables on the decision to attend and the decision to attend more. Finally, a remarkable consistency of results across the 3 year surveys and the different model specifications.