Dynamic Model of Arts Labor Supply

In this paper two dynamic models of artist behavior and arts labor supply are developed. Both are based on household production function approach and on the assumption that artists are multiple-job-holders. In the first model proposed here artist is depicted as someone who is hired on the arts labor market and paid for her arts time. In the second model artist is described as someone who sell her products, like paintings for instance, on the market for arts products. In order to make these models dynamic, artist productivity is here supposed to be a function of accumulated human capital of artist. Following the results of existing empirical research, previous experience and previous artistic practice are supposed to be the most important form of human capital accumulation. Once analysis is expended to capture this kind of artist human capital accumulation, the supply of the labor in the arts market appears as a resulting from an inter-temporal process of resources allocation. Both models end with same result: shadow price of producing unit of art commodity in certain year should be equal to the sum of current monetary benefits, current nonmonetary benefits, stream of future monetary benefits, and stream of future nonmonetary benefits generated by production of respected art unit. This result appears to be pretty suitable for formalization of several existing hypotheses aimed at explaining arts labor market peculiarities. Especially, by referring to the stream of expected nonmonetary benefits, models developed here are able to formalize most promising among these hypothesis according to which artist need for self-actualization is driving force in explaining oversupply of arts labor.