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State Subsidies and Repertoire Conventionality in the Non-Profit English Theatre Sector: An Econometric Analysis

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Abstract

This paper examines the impact of financial and socio-economic factors on repertoire decisions of the grant-aided, non-profit theatre sector in England using cross-sectional regression analysis for the seasons 1996/97 to 1998/99. The dependent variable, a conventionality index, a variant of the DiMaggio/Stenberg conformity index, is calculated first. This shows a very considerable variation in repertoire conventionality, so measured, in the non-profit English theatre sector. A model is then constructed to assess the impact of the above-mentioned factors in determining variations in this index using a dataset hitherto not analysed in this way. The empirical results show that public subsidy, the size and the location of a theatre as well as the local average income have an impact on conventionality, which confirms existing empirical findings.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Economics, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, 2, Ireland

    John O’Hagan & Adriana Neligan

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  1. John O’Hagan
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  2. Adriana Neligan
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Correspondence to Adriana Neligan.

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O’Hagan, J., Neligan, A. State Subsidies and Repertoire Conventionality in the Non-Profit English Theatre Sector: An Econometric Analysis. J Cult Econ 29, 35–57 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10824-005-8132-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10824-005-8132-y

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