The Economics of Renaissance Art

I analyzed the market of paintings in Florence and Italy (1285–1550). Hedonic regressions on real prices allowed me to advance evidence that the market was competitive and that an important determinant of artistic innovation was driven by economic incentives. Price differentials reflected quality di...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Journal of economic history Vol. 78; no. 2; pp. 500 - 538
Main Author Etro, Federico
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published New York, USA Cambridge University Press 01.06.2018
Subjects
Art markets
Artists
Creativity
Destinations
Econometrics
Economic history
Economic incentives
Economic models
Hypotheses
Innovations
Investigations
Monopolistic competition
Mosaic art
Painters
Prices
Product differentiation
Profitability
Purchasing power
Regional variations
Religion
Renaissance period
Reputations
Sociology
Florence Italy
Italy
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Summary:I analyzed the market of paintings in Florence and Italy (1285–1550). Hedonic regressions on real prices allowed me to advance evidence that the market was competitive and that an important determinant of artistic innovation was driven by economic incentives. Price differentials reflected quality differentials between painters as perceived at the time (whose proxy is the length of the biography of Vasari) and did not depend on regional destinations, as expected under monopolistic competition with free entry. An inverse-U relation between prices and age of execution is consistent with reputational theories of artistic effort, and prices increased since the 1420s.
ISSN:0022-0507
1471-6372
DOI:10.1017/S0022050718000244