We argue that for the case of heterogeneous commodities with infrequent tradings, such as paintings, it is relevant to base a price index on hedonic regressions using all sales and not resales only. To support this conclusion we construct a price index for paintings by Impressionists and their...

In their paper on price comovements of paintings, Ginsburgh and Jeanfils show that in three important markets (London, Paris and New York), prices of well-known and lesser known painters ''move together'' (are cointegrated). They conclude that therefore, an investor may be indifferent between...

We address the question of the quality of movies produced between 1950 and 1970. A first outcome of our analysis is that the quality assessments made during the Cannes Festival, and to a lesser degree, by the U.S. Academy are short-lasting. In contrast to this, consumers seem consistent over...

This paper examines three situations in which distances between languages, genes, and cultures matter. The first is concerned with the determinants that govern the learning of foreign languages. One of these is the “difficulty” of the foreign language, represented by the distance between the...