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Name: Gerben Bakker
Email: g.bakker at lse.ac.uk
Institution: London School of Economics, Economic History Department

Co-author:none

Title: The Evolution of Entertainment Consumption and the Emergence 
of Cinema, 1890-1940

Internet Address of abstracted work: 
http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/economicHistory/pdf/wp102.pdf

By mail:
Department of Economic History
London School of Economics
Houghton Street
London WC2A 2AE

Language: English

Abstract:
This paper investigates the role of consumption in the emergence of 
the motion picture industry in Britain, France, and the US. A 
time-lag of at least twelve years between the invention of cinema and 
the film industry's take-off suggests that the latter was not mainly 
technology-driven. In all three countries, demand for spectator 
entertainment grew at a phenomenal rate, far more still in quantity 
than in expenditure terms. In 1890 'amusements and vacation' was a 
luxury service in all three countries. Later, US consumers consumed 
consistently more cinema than live, compared to Europe. More 
disaggregated data for the 1930s reveal that in Europe, cinema was an 
inferior good, in the US it was a luxury, and that in Europe, live 
entertainment was just above a normal good, while in the US it was a 
strong luxury. Comparative analysis of consumption differences 
suggests that one-third of the US/UK difference and nearly all of the 
UK/France difference can be explained by differences in relative 
price ('technology'), and all of the US/France difference by 
differences in preferences ('taste'). These findings suggest a strong 
UK comparative advantage in live entertainment production. Using 
informal comparative growth analysis, the paper finds that cinema 
consumption was part of a large boom in expenditure on a variety of 
leisure goods and services; over time, by an evolutionary process, 
some of these goods, such as cinema and radio, formed the basis of 
dominant consumption habits, while others remained relatively small. 
The emergence of cinema, then, was led to a considerable extent by 
demand, which, through an evolutionary process, was directed towards 
increasing consumer expenditure on spectator entertainment.

Bibliography: Bakker, Gerben. "The Evolution of Entertainment 
Consumption and the Emergence of Cinema, 1890-1940." London School of 
Economics, Economic History Working Paper No. 102. 2007.

Subject: B, F, X
Geographical Area: 4, 7
Country/Region: Britain, France, United States
Time Period: 7, 8

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