Elizabeth Currid‐halkett
Biographic Data
| ID | 4515241 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Elizabeth Currid‐halkett |
| GIVEN NAMES | Elizabeth |
| FAMILY NAME | Currid‐halkett |
| SIGNATURE | HALKETT E C |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Southern California |
| ORCID | 0009-0009-0903-8447 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 16 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 41 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 16 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2010 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Culture, cities, and economic geography
This anniversary commentary examines how culture, broadly drawn, has been explored in the Journal of Economic Geography and the field of economic geography more generally, over the past 25 years. We argue that culture must be engaged more deeply within geography. To that end, we offer several frameworks to consider culture including cultural capital, the arts and cultural industries and cultural transmission. Our argument hinges on both a deeper …
The urban–rural gap in older Americans’ healthy life expectancy
PURPOSE: Estimate health-quality-adjusted life expectancy (QALE) for Americans nearing retirement age and assess rural-urban disparities in QALE. METHODS: We used a dynamic microsimulation model based on Health and Retirement Study data to estimate the quantity and health quality of expected future life years for rural and urban Americans ages 59-60 in 2014-2020. FINDINGS: Cohort life expectancy at age 60 (LE) for urban and rural men was 22.9 and…
The geography of cultural capital
This article examines the spatial manifestation of cultural capital, an increasingly central means by which social inequalities are demarcated. To conduct our analysis, we measure both linear and transportation network distances between neighborhoods and representative amenities of cultural capital within the twelve most populous American metropolitan areas. By classifying neighborhoods according to their residents’ income and educational attainm…
Planning in the Era of Regional Divergence
Planners tend to think and work at the scale of the neighborhood and city. We argue that a wider analytical lens focusing on extralocal economic forces—specifically, growing inequality between regions—is essential to understanding contemporary urban problems. The growth of interregional inequality is stimulating a national dialogue on place-based policies that would benefit substantially from planning expertise. We point to three ways that planni…
The Sum of Small Things
Industrial gentrification in West Chelsea, New York
This paper empirically tests the extent to which economic restructuring and gentrification affect viability and vulnerability businesses, with specific focus on arts and cultural industries in West Chelsea from 2000 through 2012. Based on the theoretical framework, gentrification stage model and adopting discrete-time survival analysis, we separately compare the risks of opening and closing between businesses established before/early stage of rev…
The location patterns of artistic clusters
Analysing census and industry data at the metro and neighbourhood levels, this paper seeks to identify the location characteristics associated with artistic clusters and determine how these characteristics vary across different places. We find that the arts cannot be taken overall as an urban panacea, but rather that their impact is place-specific and policy ought to reflect these nuances. However, our work also finds that, paradoxically, the art…
Stars and Stardom in the Creative Industries
Like all industries, the creative industries possess a highest stratum of workers, those who reap the greatest rewards. The creative industries, however, produce a peculiar type of individual success that is not simply rewarded financially. The financial rewards of the industry are also part and parcel of the ability for the artist to become part spectacle; a person whose contribution transcends their talent and also becomes a part of the larger …
The geography of celebrity and glamour
Creativity and the crisis
Twilight of the Idols
If Mark Lynn Anderson is correct, society is in trouble. In Twilight of the Idols, his provocative and thoughtful study of early twentieth-century film and social and behavioral phenomena, Anderson argues that cinema, like other modern cultural institutions, is a conduit through which the masses understand themselves. If the television programs Keeping Up with the Kardashians (2007–) and Two and a Half Men (2003–) are means to understanding ourse…
The social structure of celebrity
Celebrities are anecdotally one of the most observed groups in contemporary society, but are difficult to capture in large-scale quantitative empirical analyses. In this analysis, we use a unique dataset, Getty Images photographs, to study this social group and its various network structures. Overall, our analysis demonstrates that celebrity networks are characterised by low degrees of separation and high connectivity between one another. Higher …
Baptism by fire
Scholars have long argued that creativity drives economic prosperity. Recently, much of this debate has revolved around the creative class. Most of this research, however, has been done during times of strong economic growth. What is the economic effect of the creative class after the financial crisis? Looking at regional unemployment variation in 2007–2011 against baseline unemployment in 2005, we study if specific subgroups within the creative …
Stars' and the Connectivity of Cultural Industry World Cities
Many scholars have studied the role of human capital and its social networks in order to understand uneven economic development. The cultural industries have become a focal point in this line of inquiry. In this paper we study the linkages across cultural industry hubs, with particular focus on the role of 'star' human capital networks in the establishment of connectivity and dominance by a few particular cities. To date, no one has used a techni…
The Emergence of Los Angeles as a Fashion Hub
The US fashion industry is a useful lens through which to view the transformation of the country’s urban economic systems. Initially an industrial vanguard, fashion has evolved into a more design-oriented sector and a central part of the ‘cognitive-cultural economy’. Fashion is also a clear demonstration of place-specific comparative advantage and specialisation, intensely linked to ‘place in product’. The paper traces the fashion industry’s evol…
Cultural capital and metropolitan distinction
Industrial gentrification in West Chelsea, New York
This paper empirically tests the extent to which economic restructuring and gentrification affect viability and vulnerability businesses, with specific focus on arts and cultural industries in West Chelsea from 2000 through 2012. Based on the theoretical framework, gentrification stage model and adopting discrete-time survival analysis, we separately compare the risks of opening and closing between businesses established before/early stage of rev…
The Emergence of Los Angeles as a Fashion Hub
The US fashion industry is a useful lens through which to view the transformation of the country’s urban economic systems. Initially an industrial vanguard, fashion has evolved into a more design-oriented sector and a central part of the ‘cognitive-cultural economy’. Fashion is also a clear demonstration of place-specific comparative advantage and specialisation, intensely linked to ‘place in product’. The paper traces the fashion industry’s evol…
The location patterns of artistic clusters
Analysing census and industry data at the metro and neighbourhood levels, this paper seeks to identify the location characteristics associated with artistic clusters and determine how these characteristics vary across different places. We find that the arts cannot be taken overall as an urban panacea, but rather that their impact is place-specific and policy ought to reflect these nuances. However, our work also finds that, paradoxically, the art…
Stars' and the Connectivity of Cultural Industry World Cities
Many scholars have studied the role of human capital and its social networks in order to understand uneven economic development. The cultural industries have become a focal point in this line of inquiry. In this paper we study the linkages across cultural industry hubs, with particular focus on the role of 'star' human capital networks in the establishment of connectivity and dominance by a few particular cities. To date, no one has used a techni…
Creativity and the crisis
Baptism by fire
Scholars have long argued that creativity drives economic prosperity. Recently, much of this debate has revolved around the creative class. Most of this research, however, has been done during times of strong economic growth. What is the economic effect of the creative class after the financial crisis? Looking at regional unemployment variation in 2007–2011 against baseline unemployment in 2005, we study if specific subgroups within the creative …
The geography of cultural capital
This article examines the spatial manifestation of cultural capital, an increasingly central means by which social inequalities are demarcated. To conduct our analysis, we measure both linear and transportation network distances between neighborhoods and representative amenities of cultural capital within the twelve most populous American metropolitan areas. By classifying neighborhoods according to their residents’ income and educational attainm…
The social structure of celebrity
Celebrities are anecdotally one of the most observed groups in contemporary society, but are difficult to capture in large-scale quantitative empirical analyses. In this analysis, we use a unique dataset, Getty Images photographs, to study this social group and its various network structures. Overall, our analysis demonstrates that celebrity networks are characterised by low degrees of separation and high connectivity between one another. Higher …
Cultural capital and metropolitan distinction
The Emergence of Los Angeles as a Fashion Hub
The US fashion industry is a useful lens through which to view the transformation of the country’s urban economic systems. Initially an industrial vanguard, fashion has evolved into a more design-oriented sector and a central part of the ‘cognitive-cultural economy’. Fashion is also a clear demonstration of place-specific comparative advantage and specialisation, intensely linked to ‘place in product’. The paper traces the fashion industry’s evol…
Baptism by fire
Scholars have long argued that creativity drives economic prosperity. Recently, much of this debate has revolved around the creative class. Most of this research, however, has been done during times of strong economic growth. What is the economic effect of the creative class after the financial crisis? Looking at regional unemployment variation in 2007–2011 against baseline unemployment in 2005, we study if specific subgroups within the creative …
Stars' and the Connectivity of Cultural Industry World Cities
Many scholars have studied the role of human capital and its social networks in order to understand uneven economic development. The cultural industries have become a focal point in this line of inquiry. In this paper we study the linkages across cultural industry hubs, with particular focus on the role of 'star' human capital networks in the establishment of connectivity and dominance by a few particular cities. To date, no one has used a techni…
Stars and Stardom in the Creative Industries
Like all industries, the creative industries possess a highest stratum of workers, those who reap the greatest rewards. The creative industries, however, produce a peculiar type of individual success that is not simply rewarded financially. The financial rewards of the industry are also part and parcel of the ability for the artist to become part spectacle; a person whose contribution transcends their talent and also becomes a part of the larger …
The geography of celebrity and glamour
Creativity and the crisis
Twilight of the Idols
If Mark Lynn Anderson is correct, society is in trouble. In Twilight of the Idols, his provocative and thoughtful study of early twentieth-century film and social and behavioral phenomena, Anderson argues that cinema, like other modern cultural institutions, is a conduit through which the masses understand themselves. If the television programs Keeping Up with the Kardashians (2007–) and Two and a Half Men (2003–) are means to understanding ourse…
The social structure of celebrity
Celebrities are anecdotally one of the most observed groups in contemporary society, but are difficult to capture in large-scale quantitative empirical analyses. In this analysis, we use a unique dataset, Getty Images photographs, to study this social group and its various network structures. Overall, our analysis demonstrates that celebrity networks are characterised by low degrees of separation and high connectivity between one another. Higher …
The location patterns of artistic clusters
Analysing census and industry data at the metro and neighbourhood levels, this paper seeks to identify the location characteristics associated with artistic clusters and determine how these characteristics vary across different places. We find that the arts cannot be taken overall as an urban panacea, but rather that their impact is place-specific and policy ought to reflect these nuances. However, our work also finds that, paradoxically, the art…
Industrial gentrification in West Chelsea, New York
This paper empirically tests the extent to which economic restructuring and gentrification affect viability and vulnerability businesses, with specific focus on arts and cultural industries in West Chelsea from 2000 through 2012. Based on the theoretical framework, gentrification stage model and adopting discrete-time survival analysis, we separately compare the risks of opening and closing between businesses established before/early stage of rev…
The Sum of Small Things
Planning in the Era of Regional Divergence
Planners tend to think and work at the scale of the neighborhood and city. We argue that a wider analytical lens focusing on extralocal economic forces—specifically, growing inequality between regions—is essential to understanding contemporary urban problems. The growth of interregional inequality is stimulating a national dialogue on place-based policies that would benefit substantially from planning expertise. We point to three ways that planni…
The urban–rural gap in older Americans’ healthy life expectancy
PURPOSE: Estimate health-quality-adjusted life expectancy (QALE) for Americans nearing retirement age and assess rural-urban disparities in QALE. METHODS: We used a dynamic microsimulation model based on Health and Retirement Study data to estimate the quantity and health quality of expected future life years for rural and urban Americans ages 59-60 in 2014-2020. FINDINGS: Cohort life expectancy at age 60 (LE) for urban and rural men was 22.9 and…
The geography of cultural capital
This article examines the spatial manifestation of cultural capital, an increasingly central means by which social inequalities are demarcated. To conduct our analysis, we measure both linear and transportation network distances between neighborhoods and representative amenities of cultural capital within the twelve most populous American metropolitan areas. By classifying neighborhoods according to their residents’ income and educational attainm…
Culture, cities, and economic geography
This anniversary commentary examines how culture, broadly drawn, has been explored in the Journal of Economic Geography and the field of economic geography more generally, over the past 25 years. We argue that culture must be engaged more deeply within geography. To that end, we offer several frameworks to consider culture including cultural capital, the arts and cultural industries and cultural transmission. Our argument hinges on both a deeper …
Sociology (11 works) · Cultural Industries and Urban Development (10 works) · Political science (10 works) · Economics (8 works) · Regional Economics and Spatial Analysis (7 works) · Economic geography (6 works) · Geography (6 works) · History (6 works) · Art (4 works) · Business (4 works)