Research Policy 2024

Everyone steps back? The widespread retraction of crowd-funding support for minority creators when migration fear is high

John Bai¹; William R. Kerr²; Chi Wan^3,4; Alptug Yorulmaz^5,6,7

¹ Northeastern University · ² Entrepreneurial Ecosystems · ³ Boston University · ⁴ University of Massachusetts Boston · ⁵ Université Le Havre Normandie · ⁶ EM Normandie Business School · ⁷ Métis-Lab

Abstract

We study funding gaps on Kickstarter across multiple ethnic groups from 2009 to 2021. Scaling the concept of racially salient events, we quantify the close co-movement of minority funding gaps in crowd-funding to inflamed political rhetoric surrounding migration. The funding gap for minorities more than doubles in the most inflamed periods compared to baseline. Results are especially acute for Hispanic creators. Distant, mostly white backers are typically important for projects reaching a critical threshold of funding support. Retractions in support for minority creators during tense periods are even spatially, as present in liberal cities as in conservative ones.

DOI

10.1016/j.respol.2024.105141

Sources

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APA 7 MLA 9 Chicago (author–date) Harvard Elsevier Harvard (JFE, JBF…) The Accounting Review Academy of Management American Marketing Association INFORMS (Management Science) Copy citation Copied ✓