This paper identifies three 'folk' arguments for an intrinsic value implicit in the finance literature. The 'hindsight' argument states that if financial assets eventually have a value in the form of realised cash flows, then this reveals an intrinsic value that was always there. The...

This paper analyzes, on basis of an original database of close to 3 000 canvasses sold during the war in Drouot, the main French auction house, the evolution of the art market in occupied France. Based on hedonic regressions, it shows that by all standards the market experienced a massive boom....

By using a Cournot competition model this paper aims at determining prices, quantities and market power of the largest intermediaries in Mexico’s masterpieces paintings market. The main hypothesis is that those variables critically depend on the intermediaries´ strategies of product...

This paper proposes a price index for modern andcontemporary paintings based on estimates and auctionprices. We use this index for the evaluation of theItalian art market and for comparisons with returns onother assets. During the period 1983–1994 art pricesincreased in line with inflation but...

Computer and communication technologies created new modes of creating and sharing arts. In this paper, we apply ‘diffusion of innovation’ theory to investigate how artistic content travels in an online social network site called deviantArt, a site designed for sharing user-generated...

We analyze the price of paintings in Dutch inventories and auctions of the Golden Age. The econometric investigation emphasizes correlations between prices adjusted for inflation and characteristics of the paintings, of the painters, of the owners (job, religion, size of the house) and, in case...

In hedonic regression models of the valuation of works of art, the age or period at which an artist produces a particular work is often found to have highly significant predictive value. Most existing results are based on regressions that pool many painters. Although the uniqueness of artists'...

This paper shows that before (after) fakes’ discoveries, artworks are less (more) likely to be sold through Sotheby’s or Christie’s. Prices only react negatively with a lag, suggesting that sellers try to postpone their sales as long as possible.

Art is often used as an investment vehicle. Given the importance of market efficiency in finance, we use a large auction-based index to test whether the art market is weakly efficient. Evidence reveals that returns on artworks exhibit high positive auto-correlation. We attribute this result to...

The aim of this paper is to identify empirically the factors that influence the duration of the temporary exhibitions, distinguishing between prolonged and non prolonged ones. We use a sample of 259 exhibitions that took place in Italy over the period 2002-2005. The empirical evidence allows for...