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Does travel inspire? Evidence from the superstars of modern art

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Listed author(s):
  • Christiane Hellmanzik

    ()

Abstract

This paper investigates whether travel increases the value of paintings produced by modern visual artists. The analysis is based on the 214 most prominent modern visual artists born between 1850 and 1945 and auction records of their paintings over the past 20 years. We find that artworks produced in the year of a journey are 7% more valuable than paintings produced in periods with no travel. We attribute this effect to human capital investments, knowledge spillovers and inspiration from the travel destination itself. There are persistent, but declining benefits to travel over the subsequent 4 years. The analysis shows that the impact of travel is smaller for later periods as modern art becomes more abstract. The effect on the value of paintings differs depending on the purpose of a journey: work-related, recreational and politically motivated journeys have a positive contemporaneous effect on value, whereas educational journeys have a negative effect. In addition, we find that France, Germany and the United States are the most frequently visited destinations for modern artists and also yield considerable benefits during times of strong innovation. Copyright Springer-Verlag 2013

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File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s00181-012-0617-x
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Article provided by Springer in its journal Empirical Economics.

Volume (Year): 45 (2013)
Issue (Month): 1 (August)
Pages: 281-303

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Handle: RePEc:spr:empeco:v:45:y:2013:i:1:p:281-303
DOI: 10.1007/s00181-012-0617-x
Contact details of provider: Web page: http://www.springer.com

Order Information: Web: http://www.springer.com/economics/econometrics/journal/181/PS2

Keywords: Modern artists; Mobility; Travel; Economic geography; Human capital; Knowledge spillovers; Creativity; Peer effects; J61; R39; N90; Z11;

Find related papers by JEL classification:

  • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
  • R39 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Real Estate Markets, Spatial Production Analysis, and Firm Location - - - Other
  • N90 - Economic History - - Regional and Urban History - - - General, International, or Comparative
  • Z11 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economics of the Arts and Literature

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  1. Douglas Hodgson, 2011. "Age–price profiles for Canadian painters at auction," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 35(4), pages 287-308, November.
  2. Borghans, Lex & Romans, Margo & Sauermann, Jan, 2010. "What makes a good conference? Analysing the preferences of labour economists," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(5), pages 868-874, October.
  3. Adam B. Jaffe & Manuel Trajtenberg & Rebecca Henderson, 1993. "Geographic Localization of Knowledge Spillovers as Evidenced by Patent Citations," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 108(3), pages 577-598.
  4. Dowrick, Steve & Tani, Massimiliano, 2011. "International business visits and the technology frontier," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 110(3), pages 209-212, March.
  5. Harley Frazis & Mark A. Loewenstein, 2005. "Reexamining the Returns to Training: Functional Form, Magnitude, and Interpretation," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 40(2).
  6. Pierre Azoulay & Joshua S. Graff Zivin & Jialan Wang, 2010. "Superstar Extinction," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 125(2), pages 549-589.
  7. Nune Hovhannisyan & Wolfgang Keller, 2015. "International business travel: an engine of innovation?," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 20(1), pages 75-104, March.
  8. Fabian Waldinger, 2012. "Peer Effects in Science: Evidence from the Dismissal of Scientists in Nazi Germany," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 79(2), pages 838-861.
  9. Hellmanzik, Christiane, 2010. "Location matters: Estimating cluster premiums for prominent modern artists," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(2), pages 199-218, February.
  10. 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.
  11. 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.
  12. Eriksson, Goran, 1991. "Human Capital Investments and Labor Mobility," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 9(3), pages 236-254, July.
  13. Douglas James Hodgson, 2011. "Age-Price Profiles for Canadian Painters at Auction," CIRANO Working Papers 2011s-15, CIRANO.
  14. Heckman, James J, 1976. "A Life-Cycle Model of Earnings, Learning, and Consumption," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 84(4), pages 11-44, August.
  15. Yoram Ben-Porath, 1967. "The Production of Human Capital and the Life Cycle of Earnings," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 75, pages 352-352.
  16. David W. Galenson & Bruce A. Weinberg, 2001. "Creating Modern Art: The Changing Careers of Painters in France from Impressionism to Cubism," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(4), pages 1063-1071, September.
  17. Thomas Andersen & Carl-Johan Dalgaard, 2011. "Flows of people, flows of ideas, and the inequality of nations," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 16(1), pages 1-32, March.
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Cited by:

  1. Piva, Mariacristina & Tani, Massimiliano & Vivarelli, Marco, 2017. "The Productivity Impact of Business Mobility: International Evidence," GLO Discussion Paper Series 14, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
  2. Andrej Srakar & Petja Grafenauer & Marilena Vecco, 2016. "Being Central and Productive? Evidence from Slovenian Visual Artists in the 19th and 20th Century," ACEI Working Paper Series AWP-09-2016, Association for Cultural Economics International, revised Sep 2016.
  3. Hellmanzik, Christiane, 2016. "Historic art exhibitions and modern - day auction results," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(3), pages 421-430.
  4. Piva, Mariacristina & Tani, Massimiliano & Vivarelli, Marco, 2016. "Business Visits, Knowledge Diffusion and Productivity," IZA Discussion Papers 10421, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  5. Piva, Mariacristina & Tani, Massimiliano & Vivarelli, Marco, 2017. "Labour mobility through business visits as a way to foster productivity," MERIT Working Papers 004, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
  6. Guido Candela & Massimiliano Castellani & Pierpaolo Pattitoni & F. Marta L. Lascio, 2016. "On Rosen’s and Adler’s hypotheses in the modern and contemporary visual art market," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 51(1), pages 415-437, August.

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