CInSt Research Seminar "Peer effects in art prices"

Speaker: Maria Marchenko (Assistant Professor, Institute for Labor Economics, Vienna University of Economics and Business)

Art is quite often considered as an investment. However, the prices for some of the pieces are not easy to predict. The reputation of the artists and their social connections can play a significant role in determining the prices of their work. I check the hypothesis of possible positive effect on the prices of art pieces when the artist is connected to higher valued or more famous peer. I base my results on the network of the abstract artist, for which it is sometimes too difficult to distinguish between good and bad work, and the prices of their works in the last 15 years at Sotheby's auctions. The preliminary results suggest that the consumers are willing to pay more for a particular artist's work, once this artist is connected to a more valuable set of peers. The auctioneer predictions exhibit opposite trend, suggesting possible substitutability of the works of connected artists. The discussed setting can also be applied to the broader set of professions with flexible monetary rewards, that might be dependent on the reputation of the specialists.

Place: 4 Slavyanskaya Square, building 2, room 101-102.
Date and time: December 7, 2017; 4 PM
Language: English

The seminar is organised with support of the HSE Alumni Academic Fellowship programme.
Free entrance.
If you don't have an HSE ID, please send your name and surname to lovakov@hse.ru before 13:00, December 7.