Research Focus

My research focuses on "creative industries," defined as industries that supply goods that we commonly associate with artistic, cultural, or entertainment value -- including book and magazine publishing, film, music, television, video games, the performing arts, sports, advertising, and perhaps fashion. I borrow the term from the economist Richard Caves, who argued that these industries share certain key economic properties: among other things, demand is highly uncertain, products are primarily differentiated based on subjective rather than objective dimensions of quality, and time is of the essence in that there is a need for a tight coordination of production activities and a timely realization of revenues. While it is difficult to come to an exact definition, taken together, these properties distinguish creative industries from other sectors of the economy. The industries that feature in my research are essentially content industries that compete for the attention of audiences (or "eyeballs") and, often, the advertisers that seek access to those audiences.