Is the Motion-Pictures Industry Recession Proof?

Tylor Orme () and Harold L. Vogel
Additional contact information
Tylor Orme: Emerson College
Harold L. Vogel: Vogel Capital Management

International Advances in Economic Research, 2020, vol. 26, issue 4, No 3, 363-375

Abstract: Abstract There is a longstanding belief among motion-pictures industry observers that box-office revenues are largely unaffected by poor macroeconomic conditions. This belief, which primarily grew out of the success of the film industry in the early years of the Great Depression, has been pervasive in the industry, and, to a lesser degree, among academics, despite a lack of empirical evidence to support it. This paper seeks to empirically evaluate the effect of recessions on box-office revenues of the U.S. motion-pictures industry using data from Box Office Mojo and the St. Louis Federal Reserve Economic Database from 1990 to 2019. This period, which includes three periods of recession, is analyzed using a number of time-series econometric methods. Results show that macroeconomic fluctuations do have a significant effect on film-industry revenues and a declining economy curtails growth, as measured in terms of the mean of revenue and persistence over time. The depth of a recession appears to be an especially important determinant. These results inform future models of the film industry by highlighting the importance of macroeconomic effects on the industry as a whole.

Keywords: Motion-pictures industry studies; Recessions; Film industry; Time series econometrics; Z10; Z11; E32; C32 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11294-020-09811-2 Abstract (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:kap:iaecre:v:26:y:2020:i:4:d:10.1007_s11294-020-09811-2

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/economics/journal/11294

DOI: 10.1007/s11294-020-09811-2

Access Statistics for this article

International Advances in Economic Research is currently edited by Katherine S. Virgo

More articles in International Advances in Economic Research from Springer, International Atlantic Economic Society Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().