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.