IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jfinec/v118y2015i2p431-449.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The price of wine

Author

Listed:
  • Dimson, Elroy
  • Rousseau, Peter L.
  • Spaenjers, Christophe

Abstract

Using historical price records for Bordeaux Premiers Crus, we examine the impact of aging on wine prices and the long-term investment performance of fine wine. In line with the predictions of an illustrative model, young maturing wines from high-quality vintages provide the highest financial returns. Past maturity, famous châteaus deliver growing non-pecuniary benefits to their owners. Using an arithmetic repeat-sales regression over 1900–2012, we estimate a real financial return to wine investment (net of storage costs) of 4.1%, which exceeds bonds, art, and stamps. Returns to wine and equities are positively correlated. Finally, we find evidence of in-sample return predictability.

Suggested Citation

  • Dimson, Elroy & Rousseau, Peter L. & Spaenjers, Christophe, 2015. "The price of wine," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 118(2), pages 431-449.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jfinec:v:118:y:2015:i:2:p:431-449
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jfineco.2015.08.005
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304405X15001440
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jfineco.2015.08.005?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Héla Hadj Ali & Céline Nauges, 2007. "The Pricing of Experience Goods: The Example of en primeur Wine," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 89(1), pages 91-103.
    2. Victor Ginsburgh & Albert Di Vittorio, 1996. "Des enchères comme révélateurs de classement des vins," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/152439, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    3. Schwert, G William, 1990. "Indexes of U.S. Stock Prices from 1802 to 1987," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 63(3), pages 399-426, July.
    4. Kathryn Graddy & Philip E. Margolis, 2011. "Fiddling With Value: Violins As An Investment?," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 49(4), pages 1083-1097, October.
    5. Ashenfelter, Orley, 1989. "How Auctions Work for Wine and Art," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 3(3), pages 23-36, Summer.
    6. Ashenfelter, Orley, 2010. "Predicting the Quality and Prices of Bordeaux Wine," Journal of Wine Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 5(1), pages 40-52, April.
    7. Heinkel, Robert & Kraus, Alan & Zechner, Josef, 2001. "The Effect of Green Investment on Corporate Behavior," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 36(4), pages 431-449, December.
    8. Denton Marks, 2009. "Who pays brokers' commissions? Evidence from fine wine auctions," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 61(4), pages 761-775, October.
    9. Robert J. Shiller, 1991. "Arithmetic Repeat Sales Price Estimators," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 971, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University.
    10. William N. Goetzmann & Luc Renneboog & Christophe Spaenjers, 2011. "Art and Money," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(3), pages 222-226, May.
    11. Boyan Jovanovic & Peter L. Rousseau, 2000. "Vintage organization capital," Proceedings, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, issue Apr.
    12. Masset, Philippe & Weisskopf, Jean-Philippe, 2010. "Raise Your Glass: Wine Investment And The Financial Crisis," Working Papers 90484, American Association of Wine Economists.
    13. Fabian Y. R. P. Bocart & Christian M. Hafner, 2015. "Volatility of Price Indices for Heterogeneous Goods with Applications to the Fine Art Market," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(2), pages 291-312, March.
    14. Pénasse, Julien & Renneboog, Luc & Spaenjers, Christophe, 2014. "Sentiment and art prices," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 122(3), pages 432-434.
    15. Andrew Ang & Dimitris Papanikolaou & Mark M. Westerfield, 2014. "Portfolio Choice with Illiquid Assets," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 60(11), pages 2737-2761, November.
    16. Renneboog, Luc & Ter Horst, Jenke & Zhang, Chendi, 2011. "Is ethical money financially smart? Nonfinancial attributes and money flows of socially responsible investment funds," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 20(4), pages 562-588, October.
    17. Joseph Gyourko & Christopher Mayer & Todd Sinai, 2013. "Superstar Cities," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 5(4), pages 167-199, November.
    18. repec:bla:jfinan:v:59:y:2004:i:6:p:2959-3004 is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Bocart, Fabian Y. R. P. & Hafner, Christian M., 2012. "Volatility of price indices for heterogeneous goods," SFB 649 Discussion Papers 2012-039, Humboldt University Berlin, Collaborative Research Center 649: Economic Risk.
    20. Krasker, William S, 1979. "The Rate of Return to Storing Wines," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 87(6), pages 1363-1367, December.
    21. Jianping Mei & Michael Moses, 2002. "Art as an Investment and the Underperformance of Masterpieces," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(5), pages 1656-1668, December.
    22. Combris, Pierre & Lecocq, Sebastien & Visser, Michael, 1997. "Estimation for a Hedonic Price Equation for Bordeaux Wine: Does Quality Matter?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 107(441), pages 390-402, March.
    23. Bollen, Nicolas P. B., 2007. "Mutual Fund Attributes and Investor Behavior," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 42(3), pages 683-708, September.
    24. Stephen F. Le Roy, 2004. "Rational Exuberance," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 42(3), pages 783-804, September.
    25. Jaeger, Elizabeth, 1981. "To Save or Savor: The Rate of Return to Storing Wine: Comment," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 89(3), pages 584-592, June.
    26. Ulrike Malmendier & Stefan Nagel, 2011. "Depression Babies: Do Macroeconomic Experiences Affect Risk Taking?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 126(1), pages 373-416.
    27. Muhammad, Andrew & Leister, Amanda M. & McPhail, Lihong & Chen, Wei, 2014. "The evolution of foreign wine demand in China," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 58(3), July.
    28. Jean-Michel Chevet & Sebastien Lecocq & Michael Visser, 2011. "Climate, Grapevine Phenology, Wine Production, and Prices: Pauillac (1800-2009)," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(3), pages 142-146, May.
    29. Dimson, Elroy & Spaenjers, Christophe, 2011. "Ex post: The investment performance of collectible stamps," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(2), pages 443-458, May.
    30. Luc Renneboog & Christophe Spaenjers, 2013. "Buying Beauty: On Prices and Returns in the Art Market," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 59(1), pages 36-53, February.
    31. 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.
    32. Lucey, Brian M. & Devine, Liam, 2015. "Was wine a premier cru investment?," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 33-51.
    33. Jones, Gregory V. & Storchmann, Karl-Heinz, 2001. "Wine market prices and investment under uncertainty: an econometric model for Bordeaux Crus Classes," Agricultural Economics, Blackwell, vol. 26(2), pages 115-133, November.
    34. Philippe Jorion & William N. Goetzmann, 1999. "Global Stock Markets in the Twentieth Century," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 54(3), pages 953-980, June.
    35. Kourtis, Apostolos & Markellos, Raphael N. & Psychoyios, Dimitris, 2012. "Wine price risk management: International diversification and derivative instruments," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 22(C), pages 30-37.
    36. Tobias J. Moskowitz & Annette Vissing-Jørgensen, 2002. "The Returns to Entrepreneurial Investment: A Private Equity Premium Puzzle?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(4), pages 745-778, September.
    37. Rosen, Sherwin, 1974. "Hedonic Prices and Implicit Markets: Product Differentiation in Pure Competition," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 82(1), pages 34-55, Jan.-Feb..
    38. Burton, Benjamin J & Jacobsen, Joyce P, 2001. "The Rate of Return on Investment in Wine," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 39(3), pages 337-350, July.
    39. Dimson, Elroy, 1979. "Risk measurement when shares are subject to infrequent trading," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 7(2), pages 197-226, June.
    40. Boyan Jovanovic, 2013. "The 2012 Lawrence R. Klein Lecture: Bubbles In Prices Of Exhaustible Resources," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 54(1), pages 1-34, February.
    41. Benjamin R. Mandel, 2009. "Art as an Investment and Conspicuous Consumption Good," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(4), pages 1653-1663, September.
    42. John Y. Campbell & Stefano Giglio & Parag Pathak, 2011. "Forced Sales and House Prices," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(5), pages 2108-2131, August.
    43. Stein, John Picard, 1977. "The Monetary Appreciation of Paintings," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 85(5), pages 1021-1035, October.
    44. Hong, Harrison & Kacperczyk, Marcin, 2009. "The price of sin: The effects of social norms on markets," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(1), pages 15-36, July.
    45. J. Michael Harrison & David M. Kreps, 1978. "Speculative Investor Behavior in a Stock Market with Heterogeneous Expectations," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 92(2), pages 323-336.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Fabien Candau & Florent Deisting & Julie Schlick, 2017. "How Income and Crowding Effects Influence the World Market for French Wines," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(5), pages 963-977, May.
    2. Czupryna Marcin & Oleksy Paweł, 2018. "The Effect of an Electronic Exchange on Prices and Return Volatility in the Fine Wine Market," Financial Internet Quarterly (formerly e-Finanse), Sciendo, vol. 14(4), pages 22-35, December.
    3. David Chambers & Elroy Dimson & Christophe Spaenjers, 0. "Art as an Asset: Evidence from Keynes the Collector," The Review of Asset Pricing Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 10(3), pages 490-520.
    4. Fabien Candau & Florent Deisting & Julie Schlick, 2017. "How Income and Crowding Effects Influence the World Market for French Wines," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(5), pages 963-977, May.
    5. Masset, Philippe & Weisskopf, Jean-Philippe & Cardebat, Jean-Marie & Faye, Benoît & Le Fur, Eric, 2021. "Analyzing the risks of an illiquid and global asset: The case of fine wine," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 1-25.
    6. Ambre Nicolle & Lukasz Grzybowski & Christine Zulehner, 2018. "Impact Of Competition, Investment, And Regulation On Prices Of Mobile Services: Evidence From France," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 56(2), pages 1322-1345, April.
    7. Adrian Fernandez-Perez & Bart Frijns & Alireza Tourani-Rad & Jean-Philippe Weisskopf, 2019. "Behavioural heterogeneity in wine investments," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(30), pages 3236-3255, June.
    8. Masset, Philippe & Weisskopf, Jean-Philippe & Faye, Benoît & Le Fur, Eric, 2016. "Red obsession: The ascent of fine wine in China," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 200-225.
    9. Mert Hakan Hekimoğlu & Burak Kazaz, 2020. "Analytics for Wine Futures: Realistic Prices," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 29(9), pages 2096-2120, September.
    10. Kevin Hoefman & Aaron Bramson & Koen Schoors & Jan Ryckebusch, 2018. "The impact of functional and social value on the price of goods," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(11), pages 1-12, November.
    11. 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.
    12. Li, Yuexin & Ma, X. & Renneboog, Luc, 2021. "Pricing Art and the Art of Pricing : On Returns and Risk in Art Auction Markets," Other publications TiSEM 8d25ec25-78dc-4cdc-b054-f, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    13. Jean-Marie CARDEBAT & Philippe MASSET & Jean-Philippe WEISSKOPF, 2020. "Covid-19 and fine wines: the ‘perfect blend’ for a severe headache?," Bordeaux Economics Working Papers 2020-05, Bordeaux School of Economics (BSE).
    14. Bargain, Olivier & Cardebat, Jean-Marie & Vignolles, Alexandra, 2016. "Crowdfunding in Wine," Working Papers 234638, American Association of Wine Economists.
    15. Dobrynskaya, Victoria & Kishilova, Julia, 2022. "Lego: The Toy Of Smart Investors," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    16. Samitas, Aristeidis & Papathanasiou, Spyros & Koutsokostas, Drosos & Kampouris, Elias, 2022. "Volatility spillovers between fine wine and major global markets during COVID-19: A portfolio hedging strategy for investors," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 629-642.
    17. Eric Le Fur & Jean-François Outreville, 2019. "Fine wine returns: a review of the literature," Journal of Asset Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 20(3), pages 196-214, May.
    18. Masset, Philippe & Maurer, Frantz, 2021. "Mitigating downside risk of portfolio diversification: Wine versus other tangible assets," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    19. Lennon, Conor & Shohfi, Tom, 2021. "Unbridled spirit: Illicit markets for bourbon whiskey," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 191(C), pages 1025-1045.
    20. Cardebat, Jean-Marie & Jiao, Linda, 2018. "The long-term financial drivers of fine wine prices: The role of emerging markets," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 347-361.
    21. Savva Shanaev & Nikita Shimkus & Binam Ghimire & Satish Sharma, 2020. "Children’s toy or grown-ups’ gamble? LEGO sets as an alternative investment," Journal of Risk Finance, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 21(5), pages 577-620, November.
    22. Carole Maurel & Françoise Pierrot & Foued Cheriet & Paul Amadieu, 2019. "Inventories in the wine industry: From sector and financial determinants to strategic behaviors," Post-Print hal-02789122, HAL.
    23. Correia, Leonida & Rebelo, João & Caldas, José, 2015. "Production and Trade of Port Wine: Temporal Dynamics and Pricing," Agricultural Economics Review, Greek Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 16(1), pages 1-15.
    24. Fur, Eric Le, 2021. "Fine Wines in a Diversified Portfolio of Collectibles," 2021 Conference, August 17-31, 2021, Virtual 315852, International Association of Agricultural Economists.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Masset, Philippe & Weisskopf, Jean-Philippe & Cardebat, Jean-Marie & Faye, Benoît & Le Fur, Eric, 2021. "Analyzing the risks of an illiquid and global asset: The case of fine wine," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 1-25.
    2. Spaenjers, Christophe & Goetzmann, William N. & Mamonova, Elena, 2015. "The economics of aesthetics and record prices for art since 1701," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 79-94.
    3. Li, Yuexin & Ma, X. & Renneboog, Luc, 2021. "Pricing Art and the Art of Pricing : On Returns and Risk in Art Auction Markets," Other publications TiSEM 8d25ec25-78dc-4cdc-b054-f, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    4. Savva Shanaev & Nikita Shimkus & Binam Ghimire & Satish Sharma, 2020. "Children’s toy or grown-ups’ gamble? LEGO sets as an alternative investment," Journal of Risk Finance, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 21(5), pages 577-620, November.
    5. Masset, Philippe & Weisskopf, Jean-Philippe, 2018. "Wine indices in practice: Nicely labeled but slightly corked," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 555-569.
    6. Dobrynskaya, Victoria & Kishilova, Julia, 2022. "Lego: The Toy Of Smart Investors," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    7. Arthur Korteweg & Roman Kräussl & Patrick Verwijmeren, 2016. "Does it Pay to Invest in Art? A Selection-Corrected Returns Perspective," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 29(4), pages 1007-1038.
    8. Cardebat, Jean-Marie & Jiao, Linda, 2018. "The long-term financial drivers of fine wine prices: The role of emerging markets," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 347-361.
    9. Fur, Eric Le, 2021. "Fine Wines in a Diversified Portfolio of Collectibles," 2021 Conference, August 17-31, 2021, Virtual 315852, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    10. 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.
    11. Eric Fur, 2023. "Risk and return of classic car market prices: passion or financial investment?," Journal of Asset Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 24(1), pages 59-68, February.
    12. Dimson, Elroy & Spaenjers, Christophe, 2011. "Ex post: The investment performance of collectible stamps," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(2), pages 443-458, May.
    13. Eric Le Fur & Jean-François Outreville, 2019. "Fine wine returns: a review of the literature," Journal of Asset Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 20(3), pages 196-214, May.
    14. Lucey, Brian M. & Devine, Liam, 2015. "Was wine a premier cru investment?," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 33-51.
    15. Limor Dina Gonen & Tchai Tavor & Uriel Spiegel, 2021. "The Positive Effect of Aging in the Case of Wine," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 9(9), pages 1-16, April.
    16. Vecco, Marilena & Zanola, Roberto, 2017. "Don’t let the easy be the enemy of the good. Returns from art investments: What is wrong with it?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 120-129.
    17. Sanning, Lee W. & Shaffer, Sherrill L. & Sharratt, Jo Marie, 2007. "Alternative investments: the case of wine," Working Papers 37322, American Association of Wine Economists.
    18. Bargain, Olivier & Cardebat, Jean-Marie & Vignolles, Alexandra, 2016. "Crowdfunding in Wine," Working Papers 234638, American Association of Wine Economists.
    19. David, Géraldine & Li, Yuexin & Oosterlinck, Kim & Renneboog, Luc, 2021. "Art in Times of Crisis," Discussion Paper 2021-026, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
    20. Penasse, J.N.G. & Renneboog, L.D.R., 2014. "Bubbles and Trading Frenzies : Evidence from the Art Market," Other publications TiSEM bf0d8984-df7f-4f02-afc7-3, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Wine prices; Alternative investments; Price indexes; Psychic return; Bubbles;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C43 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods: Special Topics - - - Index Numbers and Aggregation
    • D44 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Auctions
    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • Q11 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Aggregate Supply and Demand Analysis; Prices
    • Z11 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economics of the Arts and Literature

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jfinec:v:118:y:2015:i:2:p:431-449. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/505576 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.