Why culture attracts and resists economic analysis

The realm of arts and culture can be seen as ephemeral and ill-suited to the ‘intrusion’ of quantitative analysis. Yet, demand amongst end-users for economic research into cultural and creative industries is stronger today than ever it has been in the past. Oddly, culture seems to both attract and resist economic analysis. Drawing on an analysis of recent research findings related to multi-platform strategies in the television industry, this article examines what is distinctive about economics of culture, and it assesses the appeals but also the challenges associated with conducting scholarly research work in this particular area.     

Bidding and prices for online art auctions: sofa art or investment

The article uses auction data collected from the eBay internet site to examine the effect of various parameters on number of bids and selling price of art. The article further uses an insight from the auction literature to gather evidence about whether art on eBay is purchased for consumption or investment purposes. The article argues that the evidence found of a positive relationship between the number of bids and the final price suggests that art sold on eBay is not, in general, investment art.      

The value of a good reputation online: an application to art auctions

Using a unique dataset of art auctions on eBay, we conduct an empirical analysis of the value of a seller’s online reputation. Several aspects distinguish our work from most existing research. We analyze a heterogeneous panel data consisting of a large number of observations over a large period of time, including significant variation in reputation across and within sellers. The panel structure of our dataset allows us to employ fixed effects techniques to control for observed and unobserved differences across auctions. Our results point to a highly significant, and sizable, impact of a negative reputation on the behavior of market participants and on market outcomes. Negative feedback is associated with a significant reduction in the number of bidders and a reduction in the probability of sale; negative feedback is also associated with a significant reduction in sale price. Consistent with previous research, the impact of additional positive feedback on market outcomes for the seasoned sellers in our sample is not statistically significant.     

The analysis of polychrome works of art: 40 years of infrared spectroscopic investigations

In this paper a synthetic chronological survey of analytical applications of infrared spectroscopy for the characterization of the materials of polychrome works of art and archaeology is outlined. Various sampling methods are described and some relevant examples, drawn from the published cases, are presented. The various methods prove to be very effective in characterizing both the inorganic and organic constituents of a wide variety of artworks, giving an insight into the materials and techniques of execution of the artifacts and, in the case of infrared mapping techniques, pinpointing the analytical data within a precise layer of the stratigraphy of the cross-sectioned samples. Overall, the great analytical potential and wide field of application of this technique is fully brought to light.     

Tribal art market: signs and signals

In this paper, we present a model for the marketability of a Tribal artwork, and we test this model empirically using a unique hand-collected dataset, which comprises the worldwide Tribal art market auctions between 1999 and 2008. Our results show a significant relationship between the probability of an artwork to be sold and several signs and signals. The effect of the auction estimated prices on the probability of sales is nonlinear and allows us to divide the Tribal art market into two price regimes. In the low-price regime, the effect of the auction estimated price on the probability of sales is negative. In the high-price regime, the effect of the auction estimated price on the probability of sales is positive.     

Arts participation: Comparing the elderly and non-elderly

Conclusions From this brief examination of the leisure activities of older Americans, several previous findings have been validated with national, representative data and a few surprises have been discovered in arts participation. As expected, those younger than 65 years of age were more active than seniors in nearly all of the leisure activities tested. In addition, the elderly were more likely to participate in in-home rather than out-of-home activities.The most intriguing finding concern the elderly's arts participation. While leisure activities decline as one grows older, participation in passive arts activities in the home and out of the home decline far less than for leisure activities and more participatory arts activities. Unlike other activities discussed, few significant difference existed between the younger and older groups in the away from home art activities. Those 65 and older were more willing to attend fine arts performances, such as opera, musical plays, stage plays, and ballet. It is also notable that the differences in frequency of the away from home arts activities are in not great between the older and younger groups. Finally, this study does dispel somewhat the idea that the elderly prefer solitary activities. The elderly are a diverse and widely varying group of citizens who in some cases maintain their patronage of the arts while other leisure activities decline.     

The Closing of Academic Departments and Programs: A Core and Periphery Approach to the Liberal Arts and Practical Arts

Minerva - Did the liberal art disciplines at American universities have the highest failure rate between the 1970s and the early 2000s? Important theoretical traditions indeed believe that the...     

象阳镇:中国民间艺术之乡

浙江乐清市象阳镇与闻名全国的电器之都柳市镇毗邻,辖35个行政村,3.6万人口,是浙江省教育强镇,温州市首批小康乡镇、卫生镇、工业强镇和百强镇,乐清市二类强镇、文明镇。2000年5月,被国家文化部命名为“中国民间艺术之乡”。象阳的民间工艺历史悠久,技艺精湛,崛起于明末清初,繁荣于改革开放以后。以后横村为代表生产的黄杨木雕与东阳木雕、青田石雕并称“浙江三雕”,其产品构思巧妙,刀法流畅,形象栩栩如生。石雕以四板桥村为龙头,其产品以镶嵌、拼雕大件的作品而具特色,讲究因材施艺,精雕细镂,形象逼真,层次丰富。细纹刻纸以寺前村为主导,生…     

Price determinants and genre effects in the Korean art market: a partial linear analysis of size effect

This paper examines the price determinants of paintings in the Korean art market in the context of a hedonic price regression to investigate whether the hypothesis of the modified unit pricing system holds for the pricing of Korean modern and contemporary paintings. Using Korean auction data, I show that the parametric results provide overwhelming evidence that Korean art pricing does not function in accordance with the modified unit pricing scale. However, I re-examine this hypothesis using a semiparametric partial linear regression that does not require the prespecification of a functional form prior to estimation. Rather, the semiparametric approach allows the data to determine the exact form of the size-price profile. This result confirms that the modified unit pricing system applies to the Korean contemporary and modern painting market.     

黄苗子郁风书画印象

前不久,在一个朋友家侃大山,什么希腊文化、西方建筑学、基督教、西方油画等等,想到哪儿就说到哪儿。酣谈之间, 朋友非常得意地拿出一本他新近获赠的黄苗子和郁风夫妇书画集。这是一本非常精美别致的书画集,书分两面,从前往后翻