The impact of air pollution on movie theater admissions

Xiaobo He, Zijun Luo and Junjie Zhang

Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 2022, vol. 112, issue C

Abstract: We provide new evidence of pollution avoidance in the movie theater market. Our analysis is based on a unique dataset of high-frequency movie ticket sales in China at the movie- and city-level during 2012–2014. We estimate that one pollution day reduces the market share of a movie by 2.26%, other things being equal. The effect is mainly through ambient pollution exposure during transportation to the theater. On average, popular movies are inelastic to air pollution. However, as air quality deteriorates, even blockbuster movies start to suffer a box-office loss during the heavy pollution episodes.

Keywords: Air pollution; Theatrical market; Pollution avoidance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: K32 Q51 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jeeman:v:112:y:2022:i:c:s0095069622000134

DOI: 10.1016/j.jeem.2022.102626

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