Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Flocking to the crowd: Cultural entrepreneur mobility guided by homophily, market size, or amenities?

Journal of Cultural Economics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Cite this article

Abstract

Economic activity and innovation clusters in urban areas. Urban economics points to important knowledge and productivity spillovers in cities, in addition to other factors like thicker markets, lower transportation costs, and consumptive amenities. Yet thus far little work has analyzed how these different factors drive migration decisions of arts-related entrepreneurs, especially when they work in online platforms for fundraising. We use data on the largest US crowdfunding platform to identify relocating creators, allowing us to identify which kinds of regions are attracting and retaining more of this sort of talent. We test for the influence of clustering based on homophily, migration to larger markets, and relocation toward particular geographic amenities. Overall we find the strongest evidence for homophily and some distinct tendencies favoring certain regional amenities. Importantly, we both identify general relocation patterns among crowdfunding creatives and break down the attracting features for different types of creators. An examination of (net) migration by different categories of projects, such as musicians or filmmakers, reveals important heterogeneity in the attractors. For example, musicians are drawn stronger music sectors, while writers seek more isolation from other writers. This helps inform the interregional competition for talent and “creative class,” especially among a group of relatively footloose arts- and culture-intensive entrepreneurs.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Availability of data and material

All data are publicly available, as referenced in the manuscript.

Code availability (software application or custom code)

StataMP v15 used for all calculations.

Notes

  1. The strength of a region's traditional cultural funding infrastructure might crowd-out crowdfunding as conventional funding sources can be more readily found, although conversely it might crowd-in alternative fundraising via crowdfunding as more entrepreneurial activity flourishes. Either way, considering dynamics (i.e., relocation) rather than more static, overall “levels” of crowdfunding shifts our attention to the decision to relocate conditional on having already completed an initial crowdfunding campaign. From this perspective, it is less clear how the strength of a region’s traditional funding infrastructure would make the second project more or less likely to relocate. An entrepreneur in a traditionally stronger area might relocate their project to traditional funding deserts ahead of their second campaign to take advantage of a crowdfunding’s comparative advantage there. Conversely, they might relocate to traditional funding hotspots in search for positive spillovers and diversified funding sources (e.g., regular employment).

  2. Of the 512 CBSAs with zero net migration, 104 had offsetting in-migration and out-migration (e.g., New Orleans had 28 in-migrants and 28 out-migrants) while 408 had no migration in this sample. A full 90% of all CBSAs had at least one Kickstarter project launched.

  3. “Local” or more location-based projects are identified based on their subcategories, including architecture, community gardens, dance, festivals, installations, plays, public art, spaces, residencies, restaurants, theater, residencies, and workshops.

  4. See the “Appendix” (Tables 7, 8) for the estimates of the first-stage of the point mass at zero net migration. The results for different categories of creators generally resemble those for All movers, with a few key differences. First, having more projects of the same type (not just any type) tends to be associated with nonzero net migration. In addition, more wealth and less creative class employment tend to be associated with greater likelihood of zero net migration. Yet differences across creator categories remain, such as an insignificant role of income for Music, Publishing, and Technology. Like the results for All movers, in general total population in the region is not significantly associated with the likelihood of having zero net migration of Local or Music creators. For the other categories of movers, however, it appears that very populous metro areas tend to be more likely to have zero net migration.

  5. Performers, such as musicians, may have a higher propensity to relocate projects if they tour or temporarily relocate for performances. We split the data by subgroups to help account for this possibility. We remain interested in fundraising for a temporary project that brings economic activity to another city, even if the creator does not permanent relocate.

References

  • Acs, Z. J. (1992). Small business economics: A global perspective. Challenge, 35(6), 38–44.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Acs, Z. J., Desai, S., & Klapper, L. F. (2008). What does “entrepreneurship” data really show? Small Business Economics, 31(3), 265–281.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Backman, M., & Nilsson, P. (2018). The role of cultural heritage in attracting skilled individuals. Journal of Cultural Economics, 42(1), 111–138.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Basso, G., & Peri, G. (2020). Internal mobility: The greater responsiveness of foreign-born to economic conditions. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 34(3), 77–98.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blau, J. (1989). The Shape of Culture. Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Borén, T., & Young, C. (2013a). Getting creative with the ‘creative city’? Towards new perspectives on creativity in urban policy. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 37(5), 1799–1815.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Borén, T., & Young, C. (2013b). The migration dynamics of the ‘Creative Class’: Evidence from a study of artists in Stockholm, Sweden. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 103(1), 195–210.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brail, S. (2020). World cities of ride-hailing. Urban Geography. https://doi.org/10.1080/02723638.2020.1775030.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Breznitz, S. M., & Noonan, D. S. (2018). Planting the seed to grow local creative industries: The impacts of cultural districts and arts schools on economic development. Environment and Planning A, 50(5), 1047–1070.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Breznitz, S. M., & Noonan, D. S. (2020). Crowdfunding in a not-so-flat world. Journal of Economic Geography. https://doi.org/10.1093/jeg/lbaa008.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Buettner, T., & Janeba, E. (2016). City competition for the creative class. Journal of Cultural Economics, 40(4), 413–451.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cebula, R. J., Davis, M. L., Koch, J. V., & Saunoris, J. M. (2020). The relationship between entrepreneurial activity and domestic gross state in-migration patterns in the US. Applied Economics, 52(41), 4542–4556.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen, Y., & Rosenthal, S. S. (2008). Local amenities and life-cycle migration: Do people move for jobs or fun? Journal of Urban Economics, 64(3), 519–537.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dalla Chiesa, C., & Handke, C. (2020). Crowdfunding. In R. Towse & T. Navarrete Hernández (Eds.), Handbook of Cultural Economics. (pp. 158–167). Edward Elgar Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ellison, G., Glaeser, E. L., & Kerr, W. R. (2010). What causes industry agglomeration? Evidence from coagglomeration patterns. American Economic Review, 100(3), 1195–1213.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ewing, H. & Grady, R. (Directors). (2012). Detropia [Film]. Loki Films.

  • Florida, R. (2002). The Rise of the Creative Class. Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Glaeser, E. L. (2010). Introduction. Agglomeration Economics. (pp. 1–14). University of Chicago Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Glaeser, E. L., & Maré, D. C. (2001). Cities and skills. Journal of Labor Economics, 19, 316–342.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Glaeser, E. L., & Shapiro, J. M. (2003). Urban growth in the 1990s: Is city living back? Journal of Regional Science, 43(1), 139–165.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Granovetter, M. S. (1973). The strength of weak ties. American Journal of Sociology, 78(6), 1360–1380.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hansen, H. K., & Niedomysl, T. (2009). Migration of the Creative Class: Evidence from Sweden. Journal of Economic Geography, 9(2), 191–206.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hoffmann, A. N. (2007). A rough guide to entrepreneurship policy. In D. B. Audretsch, I. Grilo, & R. A. Thurik (Eds.), Handbook of research on entrepreneurship policy. (pp. 140–161). Edward Elgar, Cheltenham.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holcomb, B. (1999). Marketing cities for tourism. In D. Judd & S. Fainstein (Eds.), The Tourist City. (pp. 54–70). Yale University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Judd, D. (1999). Constructing the tourist bubble. In D. Judd & S. Fainstein (Eds.), The Tourist City. (pp. 35–53). Yale University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kelly, E., & O’Hagan, J. (2007). Geographic clustering of economic activity: The case of prominent western visual artists. Journal of Cultural Economics, 31(2), 109–128.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kenney, M., & Zysman, J. (2020). The platform economy: Restructuring the space of capitalist accumulation. Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, 13(1), 55–76.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kickstarter. (2020). https://www.kickstarter.com/about.

  • Krupka, D. J., & Noonan, D. S. (2013). City air and city markets: Worker productivity gains across city sizes. International Regional Science Review, 36(2), 183–206.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lazzaro, E., & Noonan, D. S. (2020). A comparative analysis of US and EU regulatory frameworks of crowdfunding for the cultural and creative industries. International Journal of Cultural Policy. https://doi.org/10.1080/10286632.2020.1776270.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lee, N. (2014). The creative industries and urban economic growth in the UK. Environment and Planning A, 46(2), 455–470.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li, G. C. (2019). Kickstarter Structured Relational Databasehttps://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/EOYBXM,HarvardDataverse,V2.

  • Lopez, J. C. G. (2019). Cultural workers and the character of cities. The Annals of Regional Science, 62(1), 211–246.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Markusen, A. (2013). Artists work everywhere. Work and Occupations, 40(4), 481–495.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Markusen, A., & Schrock, G. (2006). The artistic dividend: Urban artistic specialization and economic development implications. Urban Studies, 43(10), 1661–1686.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McGranahan, D. A. (1999). Natural amenities drive rural population change. Agricultural Economic Report No. (AER-781). United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.

  • Mendes-Da-Silva, W., Rossoni, L., Conte, B. S., Gattaz, C. C., & Francisco, E. R. (2016). The impacts of fundraising periods and geographic distance on financing music production via crowdfunding in Brazil. Journal of Cultural Economics, 40(1), 75–99.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Minniti, M., & Lévesque, M. (2008). Recent developments in the economics of entrepreneurship. Journal of Business Venturing, 23(6), 603–612.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mittelstädt, A. & Cerri, F. (2008). Fostering Entrepreneurship for Innovation, OECD Science, Technology and Industry Working Papers, No. 2008/05, OECD Publishing, Paris.

  • Mollick, E. (2014). The dynamics of crowdfunding: An exploratory study. Journal of Business Venturing, 29, 1–16.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moretti, E. (2012). The New Geography of Jobs. Mifflin Harcourt: Houghton.

    Google Scholar 

  • Neal, Z. (2012). Creative employment and jet set cities: Disentangling causal effects. Urban Studies, 49(12), 2693–2709.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Noonan, D. S. (2021). The arts and culture sector’s contributions to economic recovery and resiliency in the United States: Technical report. Washington, DC: National Assembly of State Arts Agencies. https://nasaa-arts.org/nasaa_research/the-arts-and-culture-sectors-contributions-to-economic-recovery-and-resiliency-in-the-united-states-technical-report/

  • Peukert, C. (2019). The next wave of digital technological change and the cultural industries. Journal of Cultural Economics, 43(2), 189–210.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Piore, M., & Sabel, C. (1984). The Second Industrial Divide. . Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Porter, M. E. (1990). The Competitive Advantage of Nations. . Free Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Putnam, R. D. (1995). Bowling alone: America’s declining social capital. Journal of Democracy, 6(1), 65–78.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Regner, T. (2020). Crowdfunding a monthly income: An analysis of the membership platform Patreon. Journal of Cultural Economics. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10824-020-09381-5.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rodríguez-Pose, A., & Lee, N. (2020). Hipsters vs geeks? Creative workers, STEM and innovation in US cities. Cities, 100, 102653.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schiff, N. (2015). Cities and product variety: evidence from restaurants. Journal of Economic Geography, 15(6), 1085–1123.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scott, A. J. (2005). On Hollywood: The Place. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scott, A. J. (2006). Entrepreneurship, innovation and industrial development: Geography and the creative field revisited. Small Business Economics, 26(1), 1–24.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Storper, M., & Manville, M. (2006). Behaviour, preferences and cities: Urban theory and urban resurgence. Urban Studies, 43(8), 1247–1274.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Storper, M., & Scott, A. J. (1995). The wealth of regions: market forces and policy imperatives in local and global context. Futures, 27(5), 505–526.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Storper, M., & Scott, A. J. (2009). Rethinking human capital, creativity and urban growth. Journal of Economic Geography, 9(2), 147–167.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sleuwaegen, L., & Boiardi, P. (2014). Creativity and regional innovation: Evidence from EU regions. Research Policy, 43(9), 1508–1522.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sorenson, O., Assenova, V., Li, G. C., Boada, J., & Fleming, L. (2016). Expand innovation finance via crowdfunding. Science, 354(6319), 1526–1528.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tubadji, A., Osoba, B. J., & Nijkamp, P. (2015). Culture-based development in the USA: Culture as a factor for economic welfare and social well-being at a county level. Journal of Cultural Economics, 39(3), 277–303.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Woronkowicz, J., & Noonan, D. S. (2019). Who goes freelance? The determinants of self-employment for artists. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 43(4), 651–672.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

Research support for this paper was provided by Hannah Nadler, Mackenzie Rice, and Michael Weigel. This paper could not have been written without the generous support of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada [Grant number 895-2013-1008], the National Endowment for the Arts [Award#: 1844331-38-C-18]. The opinions expressed are those of the author(s) and do not represent the views of the National Endowment for the Arts Office of Research & Analysis or the National Endowment for the Arts. The Arts Endowment does not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information included in this material and is not responsible for any consequences of its use.

Funding

Research funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada [Grant number 895-2013-1008] and the National Endowment for the Arts [Award#: 1844331-38-C-18].

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Cultural Affairs, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, Indianapolis, USA

    Douglas S. Noonan

  2. Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

    Shiri M. Breznitz & Sana Maqbool

Authors
  1. Douglas S. Noonan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Shiri M. Breznitz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Sana Maqbool
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sana Maqbool.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest or competing interests in this research.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Appendix

Appendix

See Tables 7 , 8 , 9, 10 and 11.

Table 7 Full results for finite mixture model estimates for net migration by CBSA
Full size table
Table 8 Full Results for Additional Finite Mixture Model Estimates for Net Migration by CBSA
Full size table
Table 9 Full Results for OLS Model Estimates for Net Migration by CBSA
Full size table
Table 10 Full results for additional OLS model estimates for net migration by CBSA
Full size table
Table 11 Employment sectors associated with each project category grouping
Full size table

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Noonan, D.S., Breznitz, S.M. & Maqbool, S. Flocking to the crowd: Cultural entrepreneur mobility guided by homophily, market size, or amenities?. J Cult Econ 45, 577–611 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10824-021-09415-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10824-021-09415-6

Keywords

JEL Classifications

search

Navigation