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The ``Death-Effect'' in Art Prices: A Demand-Side Exploration

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Abstract

Many factors affect the supply and demand characteristics of artists' output.This exploratory study focuses on a ``supply-induced'' demand effect –the death of the artist and the assurance that, from the perspective of thedurable goods monopolist, the output of the artist ends. While not purportingto be a formal test of that proposition, we observe, using U.S. auction data,a clustered rise in artists' values immediately around the time of death andsuggest some possible demand-side explanations using a sample of LatinAmerican artists between 1977 and 1996.

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Ekelund, R.B., Ressler, R.W. & Watson, J.K. The ``Death-Effect'' in Art Prices: A Demand-Side Exploration. Journal of Cultural Economics 24, 283–300 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007618221648

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007618221648

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