古镜今照

这些年来,＂盛世收藏＂一词被人们越来越多地提及。在众多的收藏品中,铜镜却一直不多见。今年3月30日,在浙江省博物馆孤山馆区,一场名为＂古镜今照——中国铜镜研究会成员藏品精粹展＂忽然走进了我们的视野,集中展出大大小小300面铜镜,让人眼花缭乱。更可贵的是,这些铜镜都由民间藏家私家珍藏并征集而来,一场展出,见证了趋于多元化发展的中国民间收藏。     

美摄欣赏

近年来,随着人们对文化多元化的追求和照相器材高度数字化的发展,摄影艺术得到了巨大的发展。摄影艺术精品也越来越受到人们的欢迎和喜爱。从本期开始,本刊将新开辟“美摄欣赏”这一栏目,不定期地选登各类摄影精品,并请摄影专家予以点评,以飨读者。同时也欢迎广大读者向本刊投稿或荐稿。通过读编双方的共同努力．把“美摄欣赏”这一栏目办活、办好。本专栏得到浙江省摄影家协会大力支持,特此致谢。     

“外国友人拍浙江”摄影比赛火热启动

从2012年4月至8月底,省对外文化交流协会、省对外友好协会和省广播电视集团将联合举办＂外国友人拍浙江＂摄影比赛,向所有在浙江省或曾经访问过浙江省的外国友好人士征集参赛作品,同时择机组织＂我与浙江＂摄影采风活动,邀请部分在浙外国友人到我省各地进行现场拍摄。     

Access to and participation in the arts: The case of those with low incomes/educational attainment

This paper looks at the issue of access to the arts in terms of the very unequal attendance at and audiences for the high arts by educational grouping. The meaning of equal access is analysed, recent data for two countries, namely the United States and Ireland, are examined and new evidence is proffered. The constraints/barriers to, and the rationale for, more equal attendance/audiences are examined. The paper concludes by outlining a number of possible responses to this continuing problem.This paper was presented at the 9th international conference of the Association for Cultural Economics, held in Boston, May 8–11, 1996.     

Does public support make a difference,and for whom?

The paper discusses the impact of gender on the income level and public support of artists in Finland. The empirical data is based on a research project carried out in the Arts Council of Finland. The data discussed in this paper indicated that the average income level of women artists is lower than their male colleagues. There was, however, no significant evidence of a gender bias in the distribution of public support for artists. The variation in the economic situation of artists seems to be notably stronger according to art form than according to gender.Based on a paper presented at the 9th international conference of the Association for Cultural Economics, held in Boston, May 8–11, 1996.     

Growth,accessibility and the distribution of arts activity in the United States: 1980 to 1990

Using data on the location of artists by state as a proxy for the location of artistic activity, this paper shows that from 1980 to 1990 the arts grew rapidly and became more dispersed, reversing a trend toward greater concentration during the 1970s. Accessibility increased as the ratio of artists to population rose in most states. Nevertheless, enormous inter-state variation in that ratio remains. The second part of the paper examines the determinants of artist location at the state level. The equations estimated for both years prove to have a high degree of explanatory power.This paper was presented at the 9th international conference of the Association for Cultural Economics, held in Boston, May 8–11, 1996.     

The impact of cultural economics on economic theory

The paper asks what kind of impact cultural economics has had on the development of economic theory. Six research areas are discussed: productivity differentials between artistic and non-artistic labor, variations of the public good concept, particularly in relation to environmental goods, endogenous changes in preferences, long-term rates of return on paintings, impact of new media technologies and the autonomy of artistic valuation.It is shown that these topics have relevance beyond their applications in the cultural field, and that the theoretical issues involved challenge standard assumptions and standard modelling procedures in economic theory.Presidential address delivered at the 9th international conference of the Association for Cultural Economics, held in Boston, May 8–11, 1996.     

Who pays? Who benefits? Who decides?

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. It considers alternative means of providing indirect tax-based state support of the arts, such as the use of tax credits as opposed to tax deductions for charitable contributions, matching grants, and support applied to specific projects. It also considers the problem of broad-based changes to tax policy that have unintended consequences for arts organizations.      

Cultural determinants of economic growth: Theory and evidence

Shortcomings of neoclassical growth theory and growth accounting are viewed as a challenge for cultural economics. Recently, new growth theory has introduced several growth determinants and has closed the gap between theoretical and empirical research. Whether this development leaves space for cultural determinants in explaining economic growth is in the center of this paper. The theoretical analysis shows how an endogenous growth model can be used to explain the impact on economic growth of cultural determinants. The empirical part uses indices from cross-cultural studies to extend recent cross-country growth regressions. Among other Hofstedes uncertainty avoidance index is shown to be significantly correlated with economic growth.Discussion paper presented at the 9th international conference of the Association for Cultural Economics, Boston, May 8–11, 1996.     

Promoting intercultural friendship among college students

This study assessed the efficacy of a semester-long buddy project in facilitating intercultural friendship development. Results of pre-, post-, and follow-up surveys show significant improvements in knowledge and attitude; correlations between post-project knowledge, attitude, and interest in continued contact; and correlations between interest in continued contact and actual contact in the follow up. The majority of the participants evaluated the project as effective for friendship formation. Of the follow-up respondents, 23% developed friendships with their former buddies. The project serves as an example for assignments with the potential for friendship development, which is essential for optimal intergroup contact.     

柔韧丝竹串起中非友谊

2014年6月20日,来自非洲国家埃塞俄比亚和津巴布韦的七名手工艺者,结束了在浙江的为期一个半月的竹编技艺课程。在结业典礼上,他们向负责培训的省文化馆的工作人员求教中国诗词,用并不熟练的汉语向他们的中国竹编师父、杭州市工艺美术师杨振利表达谢意。     

Learning-by-Consuming and the Dynamics of the Demand and Prices of Cultural Goods

The major distinctive feature of cultural goods is that consumers must learn how to consume them, implying that preferences should be modelled as intertemporally dependent. The canonical model in the literature uses a habit formation analogy. In this paper, we discuss in detail, though in the simplest setup, a consistent preference structure for that model. Then, we derive the implications for the dynamics of two aggregate equilibrium models, a fixed price model and a flexible price model. The learning-by-consuming behaviour is characterised by a preference structure displaying bounded adjacent complementarity in the demand for the cultural good. This implies that there will be short run complementarity between the stocks of culture and financial wealth and that the adjustment of the demand for cultural goods, or of their relative price, will have some inertia. In the exogenous price model, we find that increases in income will raise the long run demand for cultural goods while increases in the relative price will decrease it. In the endogenous price model, an increase in the supply of cultural goods will imply an initial undershooting of the price of cultural goods followed by an upward transition process. Our results seem to be consistent with the empirical results on the demand for cultural goods and seem to offer an explanation for the Baumol and Bowen paradox.JEL Classification: Z1, E21Earlier versions of this paper have been presented at the 1st Conference of the Sociedade Portuguesa de Investigação em Economia (SPiE, 1997) and at the Xth Conference of the Association for Cultural Economics International, 1998, Barcelona.     

赵元任和胡适

留美学友 1910年7月赵元任和胡适同时在北京报考第二批庚款官费留学美国,赵元任在榜上名列第二,胡适列第五十五名。这一年8月16日,包括胡适和赵元任在内的这一批青年学子共71人,从上海乘轮船赴大洋彼岸的美国。     

饱含深情的《四季旋律》——读柳德米拉·斯吉尔达第二本诗集

＂在这片土地上,在这片美丽的土地上,人们在欢唱,因为他们感到幸福;在这片土地上,在这片古老的土地上,人们幸福,因为他们勤劳刻苦;在这片土地上,在这片神圣的土地上,人们幸福,因为他们得到苍天的关注;在这片土地上,在这片温暖的土地上,人们幸福,因为他们心灵手巧。＂     

Financial returns,price determinants,and genre effects in American art investment

Past studies on art investment generally have found that returns are low and risk is high. In this study we find that the return to art investment is more in line with traditional investments and thus the cost for consumption associated with art seems fairly small. Employing a large sample of paintings by 66 American artists sold at auction between 1971–1992, average returns are found to be over 9 per cent and 3 per cent in nominal and real terms, respectively. The model employs a log linear price regression estimated by pooled cross section and time series data, and allows rates of return as well as hedonic values for various painting and auction attributes to be estimated. These include size, media, age of execution, authenticity of the work, and auction month and house. In addition, rates of return are differentiated by artist, time period of investment, price range and genre of the painting. The findings indicate significant sensitivity of rates of return to these data stratifications.This paper was presented at the 9th international conference of the Association for Cultural Economics, held in Boston, May 8–11, 1996.     

The cultural entrepreneur and the creative industries: beginning in Vienna

In this paper on the creative industries and cultural entrepreneurship I take my point of departure in Richard Caves’ Creative Industries [Caves, R. (2000). Creative industries: Contacts between art and commerce. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.]. While Caves draws heavily on economic analysis and contemporary sociology in his excellent analysis of these two topics, he does not use the sociological classics at all. The main purpose of the paper is an attempt to remedy this, by drawing attention to the possible contribution that the works of Max Weber, Emile Durkheim, and Georg Simmel can make to our understanding of the creative industries and cultural entrepreneurship. Since this paper was prepared as a keynote address for the 2006 conference of the Association for Cultural Economics International in Vienna, I also discuss Schumpeter’s ideas on art and entrepreneurship, ideas which grew out of Viennese culture.

Cultural entrepreneurship and the Banff Television Festival

Cultural entrepreneurship involves a conception, an initial launch, and a transition to an established event. Each stage generates wicked coordination and financial challenges. We explore this important process by examining the history of the Banff Television Festival, an annual event featuring a competition, workshops, and providing a forum for developing projects. The documentation indicates that the anticipated problems of nonprofit activities — inefficient administration, crude management systems, slow adaptation and little innovation — were not characteristic of the Banff experience. Well informed industry customers and patrons have established an environment which generally encouraged managerial competence and creativity. This benign result may not generalize to other cultural initiatives, in particular to those that serve the public directly and draw patronage from diverse sources.The paper was presented at the 9th international conference of the Association for Cultural Economics, held in Boston, May 8–11, 1996.     

Smart surfaces for architectural heritage: Preliminary results about the application of TiO2-based coatings on travertine

The development and application of self-cleaning treatments on historical and architectural stone surfaces could be a significant improvement in conservation, protection and maintenance of Cultural Heritage. In this paper, a TiO₂-based coating has been investigated in order to evaluate its possible use as a self-cleaning treatment. This coating was obtained by a sol-gel and a hydrothermal (134 °C) processes and then it was applied on travertine (a limestone often used in historical and monumental buildings) in two ways, obtaining a single-layer and a three-layer treatment, respectively. In order to verify its potential use in the field of Cultural Heritage, the maintenance of appearance properties of the treated travertine surfaces was monitored by colour and gloss analyses. Besides, de-pollution and soiling removal tests were carried out under ultraviolet-light exposure to evaluate photo-induced effects and self-cleaning efficiency. Results seem to allow the use of TiO₂-based treatments on historical and architectural surfaces made up by travertine, where de-pollution and self-cleaning photo-induced effects are well evident, maintaining their original visual appearance. Anyway, before applying TiO₂-based coatings as conservative treatments, further tests are needed especially on their durability, that is mandatory for Cultural Heritage applications. On-site test in an urban environment and accelerated test by weatherometer are currently under way.     

Arts policy research for the next 25 years: a trajectory after <Emphasis Type="Italic">Patrons Despite Themselves</Emphasis>

This article was presented at the symposium dedicated to the twenty-fifth 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. It considers “big questions” in arts policy that promise intellectual and social payoff if approached in the spirit that animated the effort behind Patrons Despite Themselves, with special attention to issues that economists might illuminate, namely: (1) Waste of resources; (2) A workable business model for digital media; (3) Increasing the value created through amateur participation; (4) Withdrawal of elites, especially economic elites, from their historic participation in arts governance and support; and (5) Fragmentation of collective patrimony. The associated questions are the same in each case: Why is this happening? Is there a market failure or equity justification for government action? What policies would help?     

Ethnic performance,language proficiency,and ethnic media use among Indian American immigrants

This study focuses on how and why Indian American immigrants engage with movies from their home country in a transnational global context. Existing literature has focused on lack of host language proficiency as the primary reason for ethnic media consumption. We suggest that for Indian Americans, the motivation for consuming Indian films is driven by ethnic performance rather than language proficiency. A survey was conducted with Indian Americans to explore the relationships among Indian movie consumption, acculturation indices, language proficiency, and ethnic performance. Results show that ethnic performance is a stronger predictor of Indian movie consumption than language proficiency and acculturation indices.