Beyond Price: Value in Culture, Economics, and the Arts

by Michael Hutter, David Throsby

Overview

How do we place a value on a painting, or a piece of music, or a traditional ritual? The market can determine a price in monetary terms for a variety of cultural phenomena, but how much does that tell us about the real value of these things? This book explores the tensions between economic and cultural value from a range of disciplinary viewpoints and provides many new insights into how value is constructed in contemporary society.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521183000
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	06/27/2011
Series:	Murphy Institute Studies in Political Economy
Pages:	334
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Michael Hutter is Director of the Research Unit 'Cultural Sources of Newness' at the Social Science Research Center Berlin and holds a Research Professorship at the Institute for Sociology of the Technical University Berlin.

David Throsby is Professor of Economics at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. He has published widely in the economics of the arts and culture, including most recently The Economics of Cultural Policy (Cambridge University Press, 2010).

Table of Contents

1. Value and valuation in art and culture: introduction and overview Michael Hutter and David Throsby; Part I. Origins of Meaning: 2. Creating value between cultures: contemporary Australian Aboriginal art Terry Smith; 3. Entertainment value: intrinsic, instrumental, and transactional Richard Shusterman; 4. Creating artistic from economic value: changing input prices and new art Michael Hutter; Part II. The Creation of Value in Artistic Work: 5. The creation of value by artists: the case of Hector Berlioz and the Symphonic Fantastique David Throsby; 6. Art, honor, and excellence in early modern Europe Elizabeth Honig; 7. Rubbish and aura: archival economics Kurt Heinzelman; Part III. Continuity and Innovation: 8. Value in Yolngu ceremonial song performance: continuity and change Steven Knopoff; 9. The ritual and the promise: why people value social ritual Lourdes Arizpe; 10. 'More than Luther of these modern days': the construction of Emerson's reputation in American culture 1882–1903 Richard Teichgraeber; Part IV. Appreciation and Ranking: 11. Quantitative approaches to valuation in the arts, with an application to movies Victor Ginsburgh and Sheila Weyers; 12. Confluence of cultural and economic values: three historical moments Neil De Marchi; 13. Agreements of judgements: Masaccio and the Chapmans Carolyn Wilde; 14. Time and preferences in cultural consumption Marina Bianchi; Part V. Cultural Policies: 15. What values should count in the arts? The tension between economic effects and cultural value Bruno Frey; 16. The public value of controversial art: the case of the Sensation exhibit Arthur Brooks; 17. Going to extremes: commerical and non-profit valuation in the U.S. arts system William Ivey.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Well-known economists of the arts and culture join with colleagues in other social sciences and in the humanities through a series of papers that were shared, revised in light of insights and new perspectives gained from other participants, and finally brought together in this collection. Recommended." - Choice

Editorial Reviews

"Well-known economists of the arts and culture join with colleagues in other social sciences and in the humanities through a series of papers that were shared, revised in light of insights and new perspectives gained from other participants, and finally brought together in this collection. Recommended." - Choice

From the Publisher