Overview

The Beatles are considered the most influential popular music act of the twentieth century, widely recognized for their influence on popular culture. The inability of other bands and artists to imitate their fame has prompted questions such as: How did the Beatles become so successful? What factors contributed to their success? Why did they break up? The Beatles and Economics: Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and the Making of a Cultural Revolution answers these questions using the lens of economic analysis. Economics provides the prism for explaining why their success—while legendary in scale—is not mythic. This book explores how the band’s commercial achievements were intimately tied to the larger context of economic globalization and rebuilding post-World War II. It examines how the Beatles’ time in Hamburg is best understood as an investment in human capital, and why the entrepreneurial growth mindset was critical to establishing a scalable market niche and sustaining the Beatles’ ability to lead and shape emerging markets in entertainment and popular music. Later chapters consider how the economics of decision making and organizational theory helps us to understand the band’s break-up at its economic peak. This essential text is of interest to anyone interested in the economic dynamics and social forces that shape cultural change.

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9781138363526

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Reviews

Can't Buy Me Love? Over 100 million albums sold say otherwise. Sam Staley uses the lens of economics as your Ticket to Ride from Penny Lane to Taxman. You can't buy love...but you can buy this book! - Professor Dirk Mateer, University of Arizona, USA Sam Staley's new book does something unique: It explains core principles of cultural entrepreneurship, not by statistical analysis (as in the research literature) or by sketchy anecdotes, but by a sustained, detailed analysis of a team of cultural entrepreneurs, namely The Beatles. As such, it fills an important gap in modern writing on cultural economics and entrepreneurship. The book is extremely well-written, and although it makes use of much economics and management theory it is highly accessible. - Professor Nicolai Foss, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark

Can't Buy Me Love? Over 100 million albums sold say otherwise. Sam Staley uses the lens of economics as your Ticket to Ride from Penny Lane to Taxman. You can't buy love...but you can buy this book! - Professor Dirk Mateer, University of Arizona, USA Sam Staley's new book does something unique: It explains core principles of cultural entrepreneurship, not by statistical analysis (as in the research literature) or by sketchy anecdotes, but by a sustained, detailed analysis of a team of cultural entrepreneurs, namely The Beatles. As such, it fills an important gap in modern writing on cultural economics and entrepreneurship. The book is extremely well-written, and although it makes use of much economics and management theory it is highly accessible. - Professor Nicolai Foss, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark Sam Staley's book is thought provoking and well written. It will be a good addition to the Beatles book shelf. - Todd Lowry, Former Director of Business and Legal Affairs, Hal Leonard Company, musician, and arranger of The Complete Beatles If you think business is just money and greed, you'll be sadly oblivious to most of what goes on in the world. In The Beatles and Economics, Sam Staley explains that even in the business end of arts and culture, exciting and even inspirational developments define daily life. For both personal fulfillment and a flourishing, vibrant society, nothing beats economic freedom - Lawrence W. Reed, President Emeritus, Foundation for Economic Education, USA

Author Information

Samuel R. Staley, PhD, is director of the DeVoe L. Moore Center in the College of Social Sciences and Public Policy at Florida State University, USA, where he teaches economics and social entrepreneurship.

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