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Art market inefficiency

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  • David, Géraldine
  • Oosterlinck, Kim
  • Szafarz, Ariane

Abstract

Art is often used as an investment vehicle. Given the importance of market efficiency in finance, we use a large auction-based index to test whether the art market is weakly efficient. Evidence reveals that returns on artworks exhibit high positive auto-correlation. We attribute this result to price truncation resulting from unobservable reserve prices in auctions. We conclude that the art market is not efficient, mainly because price formation is opaque to outsiders who lack information on unsold artworks.

Suggested Citation

  • David, Géraldine & Oosterlinck, Kim & Szafarz, Ariane, 2013. "Art market inefficiency," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 121(1), pages 23-25.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:121:y:2013:i:1:p:23-25
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2013.06.033
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    Cited by:

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    5. Pénasse, Julien & Renneboog, Luc & Spaenjers, Christophe, 2014. "Sentiment and art prices," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 122(3), pages 432-434.
    6. Goodness C. Aye & Tsangyao Chang & Wen-Yi Chen & Rangan Gupta & Mark Wohar, 2016. "Testing the Efficiency of the Art Market using Quantile-Based Unit Root Tests with Sharp and Smooth Breaks," Working Papers 201625, University of Pretoria, Department of Economics.
    7. Aye, Goodness C. & Gil-Alana, Luis A. & Gupta, Rangan & Wohar, Mark E., 2017. "The efficiency of the art market: Evidence from variance ratio tests, linear and nonlinear fractional integration approaches," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 283-294.
    8. Zhitkov, Konstantin & Ratnikova, Tatiana, 2014. "The construction of hedonic price indices for fauvists’ paintings," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 35(3), pages 59-85.
    9. Anne-Sophie V. E. Radermecker, 2019. "Artworks without names: an insight into the market for anonymous paintings," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 43(3), pages 443-483, September.
    10. Aloosh, Arash & Choi, Hyung-Eun & Ouzan, Samuel, 2023. "The tail wagging the dog: How do meme stocks affect market efficiency?," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 68-78.
    11. Gallais-Hamonno, Georges & Hoang, Thi-Hong-Van & Oosterlinck, Kim, 2015. "Informational efficiency of the clandestine and official gold markets in Paris," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 28-30.
    12. Yuqing Song, 2024. "Valuing Collaboration in Art: Insights from Zhang Daqian's Network," Working Papers CEB 24-012, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    13. Shi, Yang & Xu, Hui & Wang, Mancang & Conroy, Paul, 2017. "Home bias in domestic art markets: Evidence from China," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 201-203.
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    17. Assaf, Ata & Kristoufek, Ladislav & Demir, Ender & Kumar Mitra, Subrata, 2021. "Market efficiency in the art markets using a combination of long memory, fractal dimension, and approximate entropy measures," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    18. Urquhart, Andrew, 2016. "The inefficiency of Bitcoin," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 80-82.
    19. Emmanuel Joel Aikins Abakah & Aviral Kumar Tiwari & Emmanuel Kwesi Arthur & Luis Alberiko Gil-Alana, 2023. "The influence of economic policy uncertainty shocks on art market," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(29), pages 3404-3421, June.
    20. Laurs, Dries & Renneboog, Luc, 2019. "My kingdom for a horse (or a classic car)," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 184-207.
    21. Giovanni Colavizza, 2022. "Seller-buyer networks in NFT art are driven by preferential ties," Papers 2210.04339, arXiv.org, revised Nov 2022.
    22. Penasse, J.N.G. & Renneboog, L.D.R., 2014. "Bubbles and Trading Frenzies : Evidence from the Art Market," Discussion Paper 2014-046, Tilburg University, Tilburg Law and Economic Center.
    23. Wang, Fang, 2023. "Do emerging art market segments have their own price dynamics? Evidence from the Chinese art market," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 318-331.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Art market; Market efficiency; Auction; Random walk; Reserve price;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading
    • Z1 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics
    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • D44 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Auctions
    • D84 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Expectations; Speculations

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