The economics of aesthetics and record prices for art since 1701

Christophe Spaenjers, William Goetzmann and Elena Mamonova

Explorations in Economic History, 2015, vol. 57, issue C, 79-94

Abstract: Aggregate art price patterns mask a lot of underlying variation—both in the time series and in the cross-section. We argue that, to increase our understanding of the market for aesthetics, it is helpful to take a micro perspective on the formation of art prices, and acknowledge that each artwork gives rise to a market for trading in its private-value benefits. We discuss relevant recent literature, and illustrate the potential of this approach through a historical study of record prices for art at auction since 1701.

Keywords: Art; Auctions; Price formation; Price indexes; Private values; Record prices (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D10 D44 D84 G10 Z11 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (20)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:exehis:v:57:y:2015:i:c:p:79-94

DOI: 10.1016/j.eeh.2015.03.003

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