Born on December 16

1917		Arthur C. Clarke, English science fiction writer (2001: A Space Odyssey)
1932		Sir Quentin Saxby Blake, illustrator and children’s writer; received the Hans Christian Andersen Award (2002) and was Britain’s first Children’s Laureate (1999–2001).
1936		Morris Dees, activist; co-founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center.
1938		Liv Ullmann, Norwegian actress and director; won Golden Globe for Best Actress–Motion Picture Drama for The Emigrants (1971).
1943		Steven Bochco, TV producer and writer (Hill Street Blues, L.A. Law).
1949		Billy Gibbons, sinner, songwriter, musician with ZZ Top and Moving Sidewalks bands.			Handbook of the Economics of Art and Culture Volume 2, 2014, Pages 185–213 Handbook of the Economics of Art and Culture Chapter 8 – Bestsellers and Blockbusters: Movies, Music, and Books W.D. Walls   doi:10.1016/B978-0-444-53776-8.00008-8 Get rights and content Abstract This chapter is a survey on the economics of blockbusters and bestsellers in popular entertainment and culture, with a particular focus on empirical methods and applications to movies, music, and books. We first survey various conceptual models on the economics of superstars and the winner-take-all nature of product success. We then survey the range of statistical methodologies that can be used to quantify formally the winner-take-all nature of the distribution of success while estimating the correlates of success across competing titles. In separate subsections for movies, music, and books, we survey the empirical literature that relates to the blockbuster phenomenon. The final section discusses specific current topics related to the distribution of success, focusing on issues that appear to be fruitful areas for future research. Keywords Superstars; Blockbusters; Movies; Music; Books JEL Classification Codes Z10; C18 Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.