What could movies as diverse as The Last Samurai, Cléo from 5 to 7, or Dr. Strangelove have in common? Filmonomics has a simple yet intriguing answer: economics as the main driving force of the plot or as the main motivation of the characters actions.
This book analyses how movie makers use economic and financial motives in their plots or to build their characters. Have they done it in line with economic theory? Or are they proposing a new angle, a new perspective, that economists should take note of? The authors here do not discuss wages in the film industry or the economics of movies. What interests them is the economic motivations underpinning the behaviour of fictional characters in their favourite films. They argue that credible movie characters can behave in irrational ways, and movie makers occasionally introduce new ideas that economists should take note of.
A unique contribution, this book will be of interest to readers eager to discover what economists have to say about films and film directors. It will be indispensable for students and researchers of economics, media studies, film studies, and cultural studies.
List of contributors xii
Editors introduction xvii
Acknowledgments xxi
SECTION 1
Money and happiness 1
1 Citizen Kane: The evils of industrial concentration 3
KATE ROCKETT AND PIERRE RÉGIBEAU
2 Wall Street versus Des Hommes et des Dieux: On greed and social responsibility 17
LUC RENNEBOOG
3 Farinelli and the reasons for the rise and fall of castrati 28
VICTOR GINSBURGH AND LUC LERUTH
4 Two tales of Crazy Rich Asians: Cooperation and inequality 41
JESSIE P.H. POON AND YUCHONG HAN
SECTION 2
Intergenerational transfers and family affairs 53
5 Trading Places: Luck and equality of opportunity 55
ALAIN TRANNOY
6 Narayama, a spaceship 69
PIERRE PESTIEAU AND MARIANNE DAVID
SECTION 3
Women in society 77
7 Cléo from 5 to 7: Existential well-being or economic utility? 79
REBECCA POWERS
8 The power of womens collective action: Mirch Masala and Manthan challenge orthodox economic theory and local authority 88
BINA AGARWAL
9 Difret: Learning from a story of child marriage 99
MARTINA MENON, FEDERICO PERALI, NATHALIE PICARD AND VERONICA POLIN
SECTION 4
Adapting to social changes 117
10 The Last Samurai and the struggle for the heart of a discipline 119
CLAUDE DIEBOLT AND MICHAEL HAUPERT
11 The individual, the state, and economics in Indian films 130
JAHANGIR AZIZ
12 A Clockwork Orange 138
ANDRÉ DE PALMA
13 The Purple Rose of Cairo and the foundations of rationality 152
NICOLAS CURIEN
SECTION 5
Individualism, cooperation, and other behavioral patterns 167
14 The Strange Games of Dr. Strangelove 169
JEAN DRÈZE
15 Once Upon a Time in the West: Transportation infrastructure and economic development 178
EREZ BEN-AKIVA, MOSHE BEN-AKIVA, ENNIO CASCETTA, AND EMILE QUINET
16 Philosophy and economics in The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged 193
ROBIN LINDSEY
17 Stopping a bank run in Its a Wonderful Life 210
ROMAIN RANCIÈRE
18 The Hateful Eight 218
PATRICK VAN CAYSEELE
SECTION 6
Young Author Award 231
19 Garm Hava: The economics of discrimination and other grim tales 233
ROHIT JAMES JOSEPH
20 Coda - Algorithmic cinema 243
ANDRÉ DE PALMA AND LUC LERUTH
Index 249
