We analyze art pricing in a unique dataset on Paris auctions between 700s and 800s. Prices reflect the objective features of the paintings and of the sale, and they reveal a substantial death effect, with upward jumps in the years after the death of the artists. Both the hedonic and repeated sale price indexes show a declining pattern for the price of paintings (relative to the cost of living) starting with the French Revolution. On this basis, we analyze the emerging role and market power of art dealers and employ network theory to study whether they created rings to manipulate the outcome of the auctions for their profits. Dealers appear to have been divided into four main communities heavily trading between themselves and we find evidence of collusive behavior with lower hammer prices for buyers belonging to the same community of the dealers organizing the auction."> We analyze art pricing in a unique dataset on Paris auctions between 700s and 800s. Prices reflect the objective features of the paintings and of the sale, and they reveal a substantial death effect, with upward jumps in the years after the death of the artists. Both the hedonic and repeated sale price indexes show a declining pattern for the price of paintings (relative to the cost of living) starting with the French Revolution. On this basis, we analyze the emerging role and market power of art dealers and employ network theory to study whether they created rings to manipulate the outcome of the auctions for their profits. Dealers appear to have been divided into four main communities heavily trading between themselves and we find evidence of collusive behavior with lower hammer prices for buyers belonging to the same community of the dealers organizing the auction."> We analyze art pricing in a unique dataset on Paris auctions between 700s and 800s. Prices reflect the objective features of the paintings and of the sale, and they reveal a su">
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The Market for Paintings in Paris between Rococo and Romanticism

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  • Federico Etro
  • Elena Stepanova
Abstract
type="main"> We analyze art pricing in a unique dataset on Paris auctions between 700s and 800s. Prices reflect the objective features of the paintings and of the sale, and they reveal a substantial death effect, with upward jumps in the years after the death of the artists. Both the hedonic and repeated sale price indexes show a declining pattern for the price of paintings (relative to the cost of living) starting with the French Revolution. On this basis, we analyze the emerging role and market power of art dealers and employ network theory to study whether they created rings to manipulate the outcome of the auctions for their profits. Dealers appear to have been divided into four main communities heavily trading between themselves and we find evidence of collusive behavior with lower hammer prices for buyers belonging to the same community of the dealers organizing the auction.

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  • Federico Etro & Elena Stepanova, 2015. "The Market for Paintings in Paris between Rococo and Romanticism," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 68(1), pages 28-50, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:kyklos:v:68:y:2015:i:1:p:28-50
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    1. Etro, Federico & Pagani, Laura, 2012. "The Market for Paintings in Italy During the Seventeenth Century," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 72(2), pages 423-447, May.
    2. Heinrich W. Ursprung & Christian Wiermann, 2011. "Reputation, Price, And Death: An Empirical Analysis Of Art Price Formation," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 49(3), pages 697-715, July.
    3. Hamilton, Jonathan & Graddy, Kathryn, 2014. "Auction House Guarantees for Works of Art," CEPR Discussion Papers 9996, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    4. De Marchi, Neil, 1995. "The role of Dutch auctions and lotteries in shaping the art market(s) of 17th century Holland," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 203-221, October.
    5. Goetzmann, William N, 1993. "Accounting for Taste: Art and the Financial Markets over Three Centuries," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(5), pages 1370-1376, December.
    6. Federico Etro & Laura Pagani, 2013. "The market for paintings in the Venetian Republic from Renaissance to Rococò," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 37(4), pages 391-415, November.
    7. Federico Etro & Silvia Marchesi & Laura Pagani, 2015. "The Labor Market In The Art Sector Of Baroque Rome," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 53(1), pages 365-387, January.
    8. Alan Beggs & Kathryn Graddy, 1997. "Declining Values and the Afternoon Effect: Evidence from Art Auctions," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 28(3), pages 544-565, Autumn.
    9. Orley Ashenfelter & Kathryn Graddy, 2003. "Auctions and the Price of Art," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 41(3), pages 763-787, September.
    10. Olivier Chanel & Louis-André Gérard-Varet & Victor Ginsburgh, 1996. "The relevance of hedonic price indices," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 20(1), pages 1-24, March.
    11. Chanel, O. & Gerard, L.A. & Ginsburgh, V., 1992. "The Relevence of Hedonic Price Indices the Case of Paintings," G.R.E.Q.A.M. 92a19, Universite Aix-Marseille III.
    12. Pesando, James E, 1993. "Art as an Investment: The Market for Modern Prints," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(5), pages 1075-1089, December.
    13. Coase, Ronald H, 1972. "Durability and Monopoly," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 15(1), pages 143-149, April.
    14. Cellini, Roberto & Cuccia, Tiziana, 2014. "The artist–art dealer relationship as a marketing channel," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 57-69.
    15. Federico Etro & Elena Stepanova, 2013. "The Market for Paintings in the Netherlands during the Seventeenth Century," Working Papers 2013:16, Department of Economics, University of Venice "Ca' Foscari".
    16. Sargent, Thomas J & Velde, Francois R, 1995. "Macroeconomic Features of the French Revolution," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 103(3), pages 474-518, June.
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    1. Dominik Filipiak & Agata Filipowska, 2016. "Towards data oriented analysis of the art market: survey and outlook," "e-Finanse", University of Information Technology and Management, Institute of Financial Research and Analysis, vol. 12(1), pages 21-31, June.
    2. Etro, Federico & Marchesi, Silvia & Stepanova, Elena, 2020. "Liberalizing art. Evidence on the Impressionists at the end of the Paris Salon," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    3. Etro, Federico & Stepanova, Elena, 2018. "Power-laws in art," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 506(C), pages 217-220.
    4. Federico Etro & Elena Stepanova, 2017. "Art collections and taste in the Spanish Siglo de Oro," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 41(3), pages 309-335, August.
    5. Itaya, Jun-ichi & Ursprung, Heinrich W., 2016. "Price and death: modeling the death effect in art price formation," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(3), pages 431-445.
    6. Etro, Federico, 2018. "The Economics of Renaissance Art," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 78(2), pages 500-538, June.
    7. Heinrich Ursprung & Katarina Zigova, 2021. "The Ultimate Coasian Commitment: Estimating and Explaining Artist-Specific Death Effects," Working Papers CEB 21-013, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    8. Federico Etro & Elena Stepanova, 2017. "Art Auctions and Art Investment in the Golden Age of British Painting," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 64(2), pages 191-225, May.
    9. Federico Etro & Elena Stepanova, 2018. "Power-Laws in Art. From Renaissance to Contemporary Art," Working Papers - Economics wp2018_20.rdf, Universita' degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Scienze per l'Economia e l'Impresa.
    10. Piano, Ennio Emanuele, 2020. "Organizing artistic production," SocArXiv 73g8k, Center for Open Science.
    11. Dakshina G De Silva & Georgia Kosmopoulou & Rachel A J Pownall & Robert Press, 2022. "Posthumous trading patterns affecting artwork prices [Financial returns, price determinants, and genre effects in American art investment]," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 74(2), pages 453-472.
    12. Etro, Federico & Stepanova, Elena, 2021. "Art return rates from old master paintings to contemporary art," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 181(C), pages 94-116.
    13. Elena Stepanova, 2019. "The impact of color palettes on the prices of paintings," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 56(2), pages 755-773, February.
    14. Edward Oczkowski, 2021. "The catalogue raisonné and art auction prices: the case of Berthe Morisot," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 61(3), pages 1669-1687, September.
    15. Federico Etro & Elena Stepanova, 2016. "Entry of painters in the Amsterdam market of the Golden Age," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 26(2), pages 317-348, May.
    16. Filipiak Dominik & Filipowska Agata, 2016. "Towards Data Oriented Analysis of the Art Market: Survey and Outlook," Financial Internet Quarterly (formerly e-Finanse), Sciendo, vol. 12(1), pages 21-31.
    17. Heinrich Ursprung & Katarina Zigova, 2020. "Diff-in-Diff in Death: Estimating and Explaining Artist-Specific Death Effects," CESifo Working Paper Series 8181, CESifo.
    18. Piano, Ennio Emanuele & Piano, Clara E., 2022. "Contracting Creativity," SocArXiv 6mkp7, Center for Open Science.
    19. Szyszka Adrianna & Białowąs Sylwester, 2019. "Prices of works of art by living and deceased artists auctioned in Poland from 1989 to 2012," Economics and Business Review, Sciendo, vol. 5(4), pages 112-127, December.

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