IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecolet/v121y2013i1p15-18.html

Happiness in the arts—International evidence on artists’ job satisfaction

Author

Listed:
  • Bille, Trine
  • Fjællegaard, Cecilie Bryld
  • Frey, Bruno S.
  • Steiner, Lasse

Abstract

Many artists are prone to high unemployment and low incomes suggesting low job satisfaction. Our analysis including 49 countries paints a different picture. On average artists enjoy higher job satisfaction than other employees, mainly due to more autonomy.

Suggested Citation

  • Bille, Trine & Fjællegaard, Cecilie Bryld & Frey, Bruno S. & Steiner, Lasse, 2013. "Happiness in the arts—International evidence on artists’ job satisfaction," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 121(1), pages 15-18.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:121:y:2013:i:1:p:15-18
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2013.06.016
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016517651300298X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.econlet.2013.06.016?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Tyler Cowen & Alexander Tabarrok, 2000. "An Economic Theory of Avant-Garde and Popular Art, or High and Low Culture," Southern Economic Journal, Southern Economic Association, vol. 67(2), pages 232-253, July.
    2. Oswald, Andrew J., 2008. "On the curvature of the reporting function from objective reality to subjective feelings," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 100(3), pages 369-372, September.
    3. Tremblay, Carol Horton & Grosskopf, Shawna & Yang, Ke, 2010. "Brainstorm: Occupational choice, bipolar illness and creativity," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 8(2), pages 233-241, July.
    4. Bruno S. Frey & Alois Stutzer, 2002. "What Can Economists Learn from Happiness Research?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 40(2), pages 402-435, June.
    5. Abbing, Hans, 2002. "Why Are Artists Poor?," University of Chicago Press Economics Books, University of Chicago Press, number 9789053565650.
    6. Matthias Benz & Bruno S. Frey, 2008. "Being Independent is a Great Thing: Subjective Evaluations of Self‐Employment and Hierarchy," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 75(298), pages 362-383, May.
    7. Lasse Steiner & Lucian Schneider, 2013. "The happy artist: an empirical application of the work-preference model," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 37(2), pages 225-246, May.
    8. Luechinger, Simon, 2010. "Life satisfaction and transboundary air pollution," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 107(1), pages 4-6, April.
    9. Alper, Neil O. & Wassall, Gregory H., 2006. "Artists' Careers and Their Labor Markets," Handbook of the Economics of Art and Culture, in: V.A. Ginsburgh & D. Throsby (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Art and Culture, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 23, pages 813-864, Elsevier.
    10. Haak, Carroll, 2005. "Künstler zwischen selbständiger und abhängiger Erwerbsarbeit," Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Labor Market Policy and Employment SP I 2005-107, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    11. Oswald, Andrew J. & Wu, Stephen, 2010. "Objective Confirmation of Subjective Measures of Human Well-being: Evidence from the USA," IZA Discussion Papers 4695, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Rosen, Sherwin, 1981. "The Economics of Superstars," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 71(5), pages 845-858, December.
    13. Boes, Stefan & Staub, Kevin & Winkelmann, Rainer, 2010. "Relative status and satisfaction," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 109(3), pages 168-170, December.
    14. Towse, Ruth, 2006. "Human Capital and Artists' Labour Markets," Handbook of the Economics of Art and Culture, in: V.A. Ginsburgh & D. Throsby (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Art and Culture, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 24, pages 865-894, Elsevier.
    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. Alexander Cuntz, 2018. "Creators' Income Situation in the Digital Age," WIPO Economic Research Working Papers 49, World Intellectual Property Organization - Economics and Statistics Division.
    2. Hyun-Seung Park & Hyeon-Cheol Kim, 2020. "Impact of Government Support on Performing Artists’ Job and Life Satisfaction: Findings from The National Survey in Korea," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(20), pages 1-8, October.
    3. Trine Bille & Knut Løyland & Anders Holm, 2017. "Work for Passion or Money? Variations in Artists’ Labor Supply," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 70(3), pages 347-380, August.
    4. Joanna Woronkowicz & Aparna Soni & Seth Freedman & Kosali Simon, 2020. "How have recent health insurance expansions affected coverage among artist occupations in the USA?," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 44(1), pages 117-154, March.
    5. Trine Bille & Søren Jensen, 2018. "Artistic education matters: survival in the arts occupations," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 42(1), pages 23-43, February.
    6. Ana Flávia Machado & Mariangela Furlan Antigo & Izabel Cristina Carvalho de Oliveira & Lucas Ribas & Lorena Ferrari Auareck & Cinthia Santos Silva & Glenda Nunes Gomes, 2025. "Artists In Love With Work? An Analysis Of The Brazilian Urban Areas," Textos para Discussão Cedeplar-UFMG 686, Cedeplar, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais.

    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. Lasse Steiner & Lucian Schneider, 2013. "The happy artist: an empirical application of the work-preference model," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 37(2), pages 225-246, May.
    2. Ferreira, Susana & Moro, Mirko & Welsch, Heinz, 2024. "Using Life Satisfaction and Happiness Data for Environmental Valuation: An Experienced Preference Approach," IZA Discussion Papers 16718, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Joanna Woronkowicz & Aparna Soni & Seth Freedman & Kosali Simon, 2020. "How have recent health insurance expansions affected coverage among artist occupations in the USA?," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 44(1), pages 117-154, March.
    4. Welsch, Heinz & Ferreira, Susana, 2014. "Environment, Well-Being, and Experienced Preference," International Review of Environmental and Resource Economics, now publishers, vol. 7(3-4), pages 205-239, December.
    5. Richard J. Paulsen, 2022. "Arts majors and the Great Recession: a cross-sectional analysis of educational choices and employment outcomes," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 46(4), pages 635-658, December.
    6. Lasse Steiner & Lucian Schneider, 2012. "The Happy Artist?: An Empirical Application of the Work-Preference Model," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 430, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    7. Thomas Longden & David Throsby, 2021. "Non‐Pecuniary Rewards, Multiple Job‐Holding and the Labour Supply of Creative Workers: The Case of Book Authors," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 97(316), pages 24-44, March.
    8. Lasse Steiner & Lucian Schneider, 2011. "The happy artist? An empirical application of the work-preference model," ECON - Working Papers 037, Department of Economics - University of Zurich.
    9. Trine Bille & Knut Løyland & Anders Holm, 2017. "Work for Passion or Money? Variations in Artists’ Labor Supply," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 70(3), pages 347-380, August.
    10. Trine Bille & Søren Jensen, 2018. "Artistic education matters: survival in the arts occupations," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 42(1), pages 23-43, February.
    11. Milenko POPOVIĆ & Kruna RATKOVIĆ, 2013. "Oversupply Of Labor And Other Peculiarities Of Arts Labor Market," Theoretical and Practical Research in the Economic Fields, ASERS Publishing, vol. 4(2), pages 204-230.
    12. McDonald, Rebecca & Powdthavee, Nattavudh, 2018. "The Shadow Prices of Voluntary Caregiving: Using Panel Data of Well-Being to Estimate the Cost of Informal Care," IZA Discussion Papers 11545, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    13. Jolanda Hessels & José María Millán & Concepción Román, 2015. "The Importance of Being in Control of Business: Work Satisfaction of Employers, Own-account Workers and Employees," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 15-047/VII, Tinbergen Institute.
    14. Tetsuya Tsurumi & Shunsuke Managi, 2025. "Income and Subjective Well-Being: The Importance of Index Choice for Sustainable Economic Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(12), pages 1-32, June.
    15. Budría, Santiago & Ferrer-i-Carbonell, Ada, 2012. "Income Comparisons and Non-Cognitive Skills," IZA Discussion Papers 6419, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    16. Gabriel Leite Mota, 2022. "Unsatisfying ordinalism: The breach through which happiness (re)entered economics," Regional Science Policy & Practice, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 14(3), pages 513-528, June.
    17. Hajdu, Tamás & Hajdu, Gábor, 2011. "A hasznosság és a relatív jövedelem kapcsolatának vizsgálata magyar adatok segítségével [Examining the relation of utility and relative income using Hungarian data]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(1), pages 56-73.
    18. Falco, Paolo & Maloney, William F. & Rijkers, Bob & Sarrias, Mauricio, 2015. "Heterogeneity in subjective wellbeing: An application to occupational allocation in Africa," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 137-153.
    19. Bertram, Christine & Rehdanz, Katrin, 2015. "The role of urban green space for human well-being," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 139-152.
    20. Susanne Väth & Michael Kirk, 2014. "Do property rights and contract farming matter for rural development? Evidence from a large-scale investment in Ghana," MAGKS Papers on Economics 201416, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • Z10 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - General
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J28 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Safety; Job Satisfaction; Related Public Policy
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials

    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:eee:ecolet:v:121:y:2013:i:1:p:15-18. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolet .

    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.