Participation in cultural activities: specification issues

In this paper, we analyse the frequency of individual attendance at cultural events comparing two econometric specifications—the zero-inflated negative binomial (ZINB) count data model and the double-hurdle model. Moreover, we address in detail the effect of education and economic variables—hourly earnings and non-labour income-on cultural demand. We use the Spanish Time Use Survey (Encuesta de Empleo del Tiempo) 2002–2003 and focus on working-age adults, running separate estimates by gender. Our results confirm that the ZINB model is more suitable to our data than the double-hurdle one. We also conclude that education and income-related variables are important determinants of both the probability of participating and the frequency of participation.