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Image(s)

Hans-Joachim Voth, David Yanagizawa-Drott

Revision requested, Quarterly Journal of Economics

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Abstract

From clothes and hairstyles to fashion accessories, humans use a range of stylistic elements to express themselves. We present new methods to use images as a high-frequency, granular source for the analysis of cultural change. We systematically exploit data from more than 14 million high school yearbook pictures of graduating US seniors to analyze persistence and change in style.

Keywords
culture, images, persistence, cultural change, similarity, counter-culture, hippies
JEL
A12, Z13, N34
Canonical
https://www.jvoth.com/papers/images.html

Hans-Joachim Voth, David Yanagizawa-Drott (2024-07-02). “Image(s).” Revision requested, Quarterly Journal of Economics.