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Article: An Economic Theory of Avant-Garde and Popular Art, or High and Low Culture.(Statistical Data Included)
- Article from:
- Southern Economic Journal
- Article date:
- October 1, 2000
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2000 Southern Economic Association. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Tyler Cowen [*]
Alexander Tabarrok [+]
Artists face choices between the pecuniary benefits of selling to the market and the nonpecuniary benefits of creating to please their own tastes. We examine how changes in wages, lumpsum income, and capital-labor ratios affect the artist's pursuit of self-satisfaction versus market sales. Using our model of labor supply, we consider the economic forces behind the high/low culture split, why some artistic media offer greater scope for the avant-garde than others, why so many artists dislike the market, and how economic growth and taxation affect the quantity and form of different kinds of art.
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