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Price and death: modeling the death effect in art price formation

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  • Itaya, Jun-ichi
  • Ursprung, Heinrich W.

Abstract

How does an artist׳s death impact on the price of her works of art? We investigate this question by analyzing a Stackelberg differential game played by an artist and a continuum of collectors. Employing the “piecewise open-loop strategy” concept, we find that the art price remains at some well-defined “pseudo-competitive” level as long as the artist is alive. When the artist unexpectedly dies, the price increases on impact. This so-called death effect varies negatively with the artist׳s age at death.

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  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:reecon:v:70:y:2016:i:3:p:431-445
    DOI: 10.1016/j.rie.2016.07.005
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    Cited by:

    1. 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.
    2. 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.
    3. Hefeker Carsten & Potrafke Niklas, 2021. "Heinrich W. Ursprung – Herausragender Ökonom, Mentor und Ratgeber," Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik, De Gruyter, vol. 22(4), pages 370-374, November.
    4. 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.
    5. Heinrich Ursprung & Katarina Zigova, 2020. "Diff-in-Diff in Death: Estimating and Explaining Artist-Specific Death Effects," CESifo Working Paper Series 8181, CESifo.
    6. Kleine, Jens & Peschke, Thomas & Wagner, Niklas, 2021. "Collectors: Personality between consumption and investment," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(C).
    7. 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.
    8. Etro, Federico, 2017. "Research in economics and game theory. A 70th anniversary," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(1), pages 1-7.

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