On justifying subsidies to the performing arts

Reprinted from Hendon, W.S., Shanahan, J.L. and MacDonald, A.J., eds. (1980)Economic Policy For the Arts. Abt Books, Cambridge, Mass. with kind permission of the publisher. David Austen-Smith, born 1953, wrote his Ph.D. thesis on cultural economics at the University of Cambridge, U.K.; he worked at the University of York and wrote several articles in the field before moving to the Department of Political Science at the University of Rochester in the U.S. His research is now primarily in positive political theory.