IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/cfswop/595.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Is gender in the eye of the beholder? Identifying cultural attitudes with art auction prices

Author

Listed:
  • Adams, Renée
  • Kräussl, Roman
  • Navone, Marco
  • Verwijmeren, Patrick

Abstract

In the secondary art market, artists play no active role. This allows us to isolate cultural influences on the demand for female artists' work from supply-side factors. Using 1.5 million auction transactions in 45 countries, we document a 47.6% gender discount in auction prices for paintings. The discount is higher in countries with greater gender inequality. In experiments, participants are unable to guess the gender of an artist simply by looking at a painting and they vary in their preferences for paintings associated with female artists. Women's art appears to sell for less because it is made by women.

Suggested Citation

  • Adams, Renée & Kräussl, Roman & Navone, Marco & Verwijmeren, Patrick, 2018. "Is gender in the eye of the beholder? Identifying cultural attitudes with art auction prices," CFS Working Paper Series 595, Center for Financial Studies (CFS).
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:cfswop:595
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/182452/1/1031264264.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Giuliano, Paola, 2017. "Gender: An Historical Perspective," CEPR Discussion Papers 12183, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    2. Rossin-Slater, Maya, 2017. "Maternity and Family Leave Policy," IZA Discussion Papers 10500, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Brunella Bruno & Emilia Garcia‐Appendini & Giacomo Nocera, 2018. "Experience and Brokerage in Asset Markets: Evidence from Art Auctions," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 47(4), pages 833-864, December.
    4. Arthur Korteweg & Roman Kräussl & Patrick Verwijmeren, 2016. "Does it Pay to Invest in Art? A Selection-Corrected Returns Perspective," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 29(4), pages 1007-1038.
    5. Maya Rossin-Slater, 2017. "Maternity and Family Leave Policy," NBER Working Papers 23069, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Merja Heikkinen & Paula Karhunen, 1996. "Does public support make a difference, and for whom?," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 20(4), pages 341-358, December.
    7. Cobb-Clark, Deborah A., 2016. "Biology and Gender in the Labor Market," IZA Discussion Papers 10386, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Luc Renneboog & Christophe Spaenjers, 2013. "Buying Beauty: On Prices and Returns in the Art Market," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 59(1), pages 36-53, February.
    9. David W. Galenson & Bruce A. Weinberg, 2000. "Age and the Quality of Work: The Case of Modern American Painters," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 108(4), pages 761-777, August.
    10. Tyler Cowen, 1996. "Why women succeed, and fail, in the arts," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 20(2), pages 93-113, June.
    11. Cecilia Rouse & Claudia Goldin, 2000. "Orchestrating Impartiality: The Impact of "Blind" Auditions on Female Musicians," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(4), pages 715-741, September.
    12. Galenson,David W., 2009. "Conceptual Revolutions in Twentieth-Century Art," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521129091.
    13. Goldin, Claudia D. & Rouse, Cecilia, 2000. "Orchestrating Impartiality: The Impact of “Blind†Auditions on Female Musicians," Scholarly Articles 30703974, Harvard University Department of Economics.
    14. Martha J. Bailey & Jason M. Lindo, 2017. "Access and Use of Contraception and Its Effects on Women’s Outcomes in the U.S," NBER Working Papers 23465, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Amy Whitaker & Roman Kräussl, 2020. "Fractional Equity, Blockchain, and the Future of Creative Work," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(10), pages 4594-4611, October.
    2. H. Dieter Dahlhoff & Tim Verriet, 2021. "Drivers of Buying Contemporary Art – Investoren und Family Offices als Marktakteure," Springer Books, in: Markt und Marketing der Contemporary Art, pages 173-247, Springer.
    3. Maria Marchenko & Hendrik Sonnabend, 2022. "Artists' labour market and gender: Evidence from German visual artists," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 75(3), pages 456-471, August.
    4. David, Géraldine & Li, Yuexin & Oosterlinck, Kim & Renneboog, Luc, 2021. "Art in Times of Crisis," Discussion Paper 2021-026, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
    5. Laurie Cameron & William N. Goetzmann & Milad Nozari, 2019. "Art and gender: market bias or selection bias?," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 43(2), pages 279-307, June.
    6. Li, Yuexin & Ma, X. & Renneboog, Luc, 2021. "Pricing Art and the Art of Pricing : On Returns and Risk in Art Auction Markets," Other publications TiSEM 8d25ec25-78dc-4cdc-b054-f, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    7. Chad M. Topaz & Jude Higdon & Avriel Epps-Darling & Ethan Siau & Harper Kerkhoff & Shivani Mendiratta & Eric Young, 2022. "Race- and gender-based under-representation of creative contributors: art, fashion, film, and music," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-11, December.
    8. Michał Szostak, 2021. "Impact of gender differences in perception of creative identities of artist, creator, manager, entrepreneur and leader on sustainability," Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues, VsI Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Center, vol. 9(2), pages 10-36, December.
    9. Lisa Farrell & Jane M. Fry & Tim R. L. Fry, 2021. "Gender differences in hammer prices for Australian Indigenous art," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 45(1), pages 1-12, March.
    10. Li, Yuexin, 2021. "Pricing art: Returns, trust, and crises," Other publications TiSEM 8832c172-83dd-4ed9-8215-0, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    11. Hoffmann, Robert & Coate, Bronwyn, 2022. "Fame, What’s your name? quasi and statistical gender discrimination in an art valuation experimentc," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 202(C), pages 184-197.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Renée B Adams & Roman Kräussl & Marco Navone & Patrick Verwijmeren & Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh, 2021. "Gendered Prices [Can culture affect prices? A cross-cultural study of shopping and retail prices]," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 34(8), pages 3789-3839.
      • Renée B Adams & Roman Kräussl & Marco Navone & Patrick Verwijmeren, 2021. "Gendered Prices," Published Paper Series 2021-4, Finance Discipline Group, UTS Business School, University of Technology, Sydney.
    2. Abigail LeBlanc & Stephen Sheppard, 2022. "Women artists: gender, ethnicity, origin and contemporary prices," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 46(3), pages 439-481, September.
    3. Penasse, J.N.G. & Renneboog, Luc & Scheinkman, Jose, 2021. "When a master dies : Speculation and asset float," Other publications TiSEM a3595ed2-e69d-4bb2-9320-7, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    4. Julien Pénasse & Luc Renneboog & José A Scheinkman & Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh, 2021. "When a Master Dies: Speculation and Asset Float [Optimal financial crises]," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 34(8), pages 3840-3879.
    5. Milad Nozari, 2022. "Investment horizon for private‐value assets: Evidence from the art market," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 45(2), pages 229-246, June.
    6. Karol Jan Borowiecki & Martin Hørlyk Kristensen & Marc T. Law, 2024. "Where are the Female Composers? Evidence on the Extent and Causes of Gender Inequality in Music History," Working Papers 0252, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    7. Chia Jung Chang, 2021. "Is the Road to Unemployment Paved with Good Intentions? Labor Market Outcomes of Young Women," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 42(2), pages 244-302, June.
    8. Benjamin Bennett & Isil Erel & Léa H. Stern & Zexi Wang, 2020. "Paid Leave Pays Off: The Effects of Paid Family Leave on Firm Performance," NBER Working Papers 27788, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Committee, Nobel Prize, 2023. "Scientific Background to the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2023," Nobel Prize in Economics documents 2023-2, Nobel Prize Committee.
    10. Sansone, Dario, 2019. "Pink work: Same-sex marriage, employment and discrimination," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    11. Natalia Danzer & Martin Halla & Nicole Schneeweis & Martina Zweimüller, 2022. "Parental Leave, (In)formal Childcare, and Long-Term Child Outcomes," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 57(6), pages 1826-1884.
    12. Dominique Meurs & Patrick A. Puhani, 2021. "Culture as a Hiring Criterion: Systemic Discrimination in a Procedurally Fair Hiring Process," RF Berlin - CReAM Discussion Paper Series 2106, Rockwool Foundation Berlin (RF Berlin) - Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM).
    13. Julian Kolev & Yuly Fuentes-Medel & Fiona Murray, 2019. "Is Blinded Review Enough? How Gendered Outcomes Arise Even Under Anonymous Evaluation," NBER Working Papers 25759, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Ulf Rinne, 2018. "Anonymous job applications and hiring discrimination," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 1-11, October.
    15. Adnan, Wifag & Arin, K. Peren & Charness, Gary & Lacomba, Juan A. & Lagos, Francisco, 2022. "Which social categories matter to people: An experiment," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 193(C), pages 125-145.
    16. Aye, Goodness C. & Gil-Alana, Luis A. & Gupta, Rangan & Wohar, Mark E., 2017. "The efficiency of the art market: Evidence from variance ratio tests, linear and nonlinear fractional integration approaches," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 283-294.
    17. Landais, Camille & Kleven, Henrik & Posch, Johanna & Steinhauer, Andreas & Zweimüller, Josef, 2020. "Do Family Policies Reduce Gender Inequality? Evidence from 60 Years of Policy Experimentation," CEPR Discussion Papers 15437, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    18. Li, Yuexin & Ma, X. & Renneboog, Luc, 2021. "Pricing Art and the Art of Pricing : On Returns and Risk in Art Auction Markets," Other publications TiSEM 8d25ec25-78dc-4cdc-b054-f, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    19. Ginsburgh, Victor & Radermecker, Anne-Sophie & Tommasi, Denni, 2019. "The effect of experts’ opinion on prices of art works: The case of Peter Brueghel the Younger," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 36-50.
    20. Penasse, J.N.G. & Renneboog, L.D.R., 2014. "Bubbles and Trading Frenzies : Evidence from the Art Market," Other publications TiSEM bf0d8984-df7f-4f02-afc7-3, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Art; Auction; Gender; Culture; Bias;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Z11 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economics of the Arts and Literature
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • D44 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Auctions

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:zbw:cfswop:595. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ifkcfde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.