Week 0: Introduction

Welcome to my Senior Project blog! My name is Samantha Goldfarb, and I have been at BASIS Independent Brooklyn since 3rd grade. For my Senior Project, I am researching the economic impact of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour. Specifically, I am examining how Swift’s tour has spurred booms in local economies, transformed the concert industry, and supported the success of her opening acts. As a “Swiftie” since 2012, I have always been fascinated by Taylor Swift and her success in the music industry. Having attended four Eras Tour shows myself, I understood why the tour is so lauded and began to wonder how I could quantify this level of monetary success with a deeper economic focus. During my participation in a behavioral economics course at Cambridge University this past summer, we discussed some of the economic theories at play with the Eras Tour, cementing my hypothesis that this phenomenon of a tour was worthy of further analysis. My research aims to examine how the entertainment industry acts as a tool for economic growth. In order to do so, I will be working with my on-site advisor, Mr. Rappelfeld, and I will incorporate insights from economists such as Paul Krugman and Alan Krueger, coverage of the Congressional Hearing into Live Nation, studies by the Federal Reserve of Philadelphia, and streaming data from Chartmetric. I will also initiate a series of interview-based qualitative analyses and conduct my own survey-based empirical research to support my claims with accurate, representative data. Combining my passions for economics and music, I will learn how to analyze economic data and present my findings in a briefing book, summarizing my analysis of the economic impact of this record-breaking tour. For more information on my Senior Project, you can view details here.