Diversity in the European film industry: do subsidies help the cause?

This thesis concerns the relation between subsidies and supplied diversity in the European film industry. The debate on diversity, its benefits and how it can best be preserved has not come to a final solution. Many countries apply protectionist policies with the aim, among others, to protect diversity. Subsidies are a widely used form of protectionism commonly applied among the member states of the European Union. The study aims at determining whether changes in diversity indicators are consistent with a positive effect of subsidies on diversity in the years between 2005 and 2013 in eight European countries – Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Sweden. Various linear regressions are run to analyse the interaction of the different variables.