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Financial returns and price determinants in the Australian art market, 1973-2003

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Author Info
Helen Higgs
Andrew C Worthington
Abstract

In this study, 37,605 paintings by sixty well-known Australian artists sold at auction over the period 1973-2003 are used to construct a hedonic price index. The attributes included in the hedonic regression model include the name and living status of the artist, the size and medium of the painting, and the auction house and year in which the painting was sold. The resulting index indicates that returns on Australian fine-art averaged seven percent in nominal terms over the period with a standard deviation of sixteen percent. As a result, the risk-adjusted return of 0.42 in the Australian art market is only slightly less than the risk-adjusted return of 0.44 in the Australian stock market over the same period. The hedonic regression model also captures the willingness to pay for perceived attributes in the artwork, and this shows that works by McCubbin, Gascoigne, Thomas and Preston and other artists deceased at the time of auction, works executed in oils or acrylic, and those auctioned by Sotheby\'s or Christie\'s are associated with higher prices.

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File URL: http://www.bus.qut.edu.au/faculty/schools/economics/documents/discussionPapers/2004/DP%20No.%20184%20-%20Worthington%20&%20Higgs.pdf
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Paper provided by School of Economics and Finance, Queensland University of Technology in its series School of Economics and Finance Discussion Papers and Working Papers Series with number 184.

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Date of creation: 01 Jul 2004
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Handle: RePEc:qut:dpaper:184

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  1. G. Candela & A. Scorcu, 1997. "A Price Index for Art Market Auctions," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer, vol. 21(3), pages 175-196, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Renato Flôres & Victor Ginsburgh & Philippe Jeanfils, 1999. "Long- and Short-Term Portfolio Choices of Paintings," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer, vol. 23(3), pages 191-208, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Czujack, Corinna & Flôres Junior, Renato Galvão & Ginsburgh, Victor, 1995. "On Long-Run Price Comovements Between Paintings and Prints," Economics Working Papers (Ensaios Economicos da EPGE) 269, Graduate School of Economics, Getulio Vargas Foundation (Brazil).
  4. Richard Agnello & Renée Pierce, 1996. "Financial returns, price determinants, and genre effects in American art investment," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer, vol. 20(4), pages 359-383, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Chanel, Olivier, 1995. "Is art market behaviour predictable?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 39(3-4), pages 519-527, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  6. Ginsburgh, Victor & Jeanfils, Philippe, 1995. "Long-term comovements in international markets for paintings," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 39(3-4), pages 538-548, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Anderson, Robert C, 1974. "Paintings as an Investment," Economic Inquiry, Oxford University Press, vol. 12(1), pages 13-26, March.
  8. Chanel, O. & Gerard-Varet, L.A. & Ginsburgh, V., 1993. "Prices and Returns on Paintings and Exercise on How to Price the Priceless," G.R.E.Q.A.M. 93b01, Universite Aix-Marseille III.
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  9. Pesando, James E, 1993. "Art as an Investment: The Market for Modern Prints," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(5), pages 1075-89, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Goetzmann, William N, 1993. "Accounting for Taste: Art and the Financial Markets over Three Centuries," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(5), pages 1370-76, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Frey, Bruno S. & Eichenberger, Reiner, 1995. "On the rate of return in the art market: Survey and evaluation," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 39(3-4), pages 528-537, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. Marilena Locatelli Biey & Roberto Zanola, 1999. "Investment in Paintings: A Short-Run Price Index," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer, vol. 23(3), pages 209-219, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  13. Andrew C. Worthington & Helen Higgs, 2003. "Art as an investment: Short and long-term comovements in major painting markets," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 28(4), pages 649-668, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  14. Gerard-Varet, Louis-Andre, 1995. "On pricing the priceless: Comments on the economics of the visual art market," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 39(3-4), pages 509-518, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  15. Andrew C. Worthington & Helen Higgs, 2004. "Art as an investment: risk, return and portfolio diversification in major painting markets," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 44(2), pages 257-271. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  16. Luc Renneboog, 2002. "The monetary appreciation of paintings: from realism to Magritte," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 26(3), pages 331-358, May.
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  17. Baumol, William J, 1986. "Unnatural Value: Or Art Investment as Floating Crap Game," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(2), pages 10-14, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  18. Buelens, Nathalie & Ginsburgh, Victor, 1993. "Revisiting Baumol's 'art as floating crap game'," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 37(7), pages 1351-1371, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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