The Impact of Museum Purchase on the Auction Prices of Paintings

This study examines how art museumspurchasing policy influences the auction prices ofpaintings. Using a cross section of non-speculativetransactions during the period 1820–1970, we findconsiderable empirical support for the hypothesisthat public museums outside the U.S. pay above averageprices in auction markets providing higher thanaverage yields to private sellers. The typical U.S.private museums appear to be more restricted byfinancial constraints and the development of thegeneral economic conditions than their publiccounterparts.     

Unbraced cables

For long span cables, either with or without concentrated load, the usual methods of design are found to be inaccurate because they omit the elastic stretch of the cable and they assume an inaccurate shape of the resulting curve. Equations are derived to cover all possible cases, loaded and unloaded cable, based upon assumptions of elastic flexible cables with fixed supports. Equations are also derived showing the variation in several quantities with changes in temperature and movement of supports. Conditions of possible loads and elastic properties of cables are discussed. A bibliography covering major references to the subject is included.     

Variation in class size,the class size paradox,and some consequences for students

Even where a total allocation of resources is fixed, it is often possible to vary the distribution of the given resources. This distribution can have important, if sometimes hidden, consequences. In the case of universities, considering the mean class size as given, three nonobvious consequences of the amount of variation in class size are examined. (1) The average class size experienced by students is directly related to the amount of variation in class size. (2) Overall student attendance is inversely related to the amount of variation in class size. (3) Overall student participation time is directly related to the amount of variation in class size. The logic of these relationships is explored, and data on 49 departments and interdisciplinary programs at one university are used to illustrate the nature and extent of the class size paradox at one university.     

Revisiting tax subsidies for cultural institutions

This paper was presented at the symposium dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the publication of Patrons Despite Themselves: Taxpayers and Arts Policy (Feld et al. 1983), held by the Association for Cultural Economics International, Boston, June 2008. Patrons Despite Themselves raised and tried to answer a number of important questions of policy concerning indirect government support for the arts. These questions have continued salience for what we see in our museums and hear in our concert halls. The primary source of federal indirect aid in the U.S. continues to derive from the deduction in the federal income tax for contributions to not-for-profit cultural institutions. On the other hand, there has been a series of recent challenges to the tax-exempt status of charitable institutions.

Entwicklung von Organisationen als organisationspädagogische Gestaltungsaufgabe

This contribution investigates the developmental side of organizational learning. It starts out from the hypothesis that those conditions of successful learning and development competency, which can be externally influenced, are indeed independent of specific organizations and can be identified empirically. On the basis of the current results of an empirical investigation in the area of adult education, we will present a detailed profile of the requirements of a learning further education organization consisting of the dimensions organizational leadership, strategy, structure and culture, core competencies and treatment of knowledge and organizational environment. This profile was generated through a three-stepped research process combining theoretical, empirical and developmental approaches.     

Science,Politics/Policy and the Cold War in Argentina: From Concepts to Institutional Models in the 1950s and ’60s

Minerva - This paper analyses how the Cold War influenced the discourses on basic research and on Science and Technology Policies (STPs) of some leaders of the Argentine research community. It...