The impact of a public voucher for the arts

Andrea Baldin, Anna Marenzi and Francesca Zantomio

Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 2025, vol. 235, issue C

Abstract: We provide novel evidence on the impact of a public voucher scheme for cultural consumption. The voucher was introduced in Italy in 2016 for citizens aged 18 years old. We use repeated cross-sections from the annual household survey ‘Aspects of Daily Life’ for the period 2013–2019 and combine Entropy Balancing with Difference-in-Difference estimation to assess the voucher causal effect on cultural consumption. We find a significant impact of the cultural voucher in fostering participation in cinema, non-classic concerts and reading books and online/e-books, with the effect driven by lower SES individuals. Overall, estimated effects suggest a less-than-total crowding out of public resources. The voucher also generated some spillover effects at the household level, and, in the case of cinema, resulted in a sustained higher consumption, even after the financial support terminated.

Keywords: Vouchers; Public subsidies; Impact evaluation; Cultural consumption (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C21 D12 H50 Z18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:235:y:2025:i:c:s0167268125001891

DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2025.107070

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