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Arts and craftiness: an economic analysis of art heists

Author

Listed:
  • Frederick Chen

    (Wake Forest University)

  • Rebecca Regan

    (Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco)

Abstract

We study the incentives that museums face in determining how much resources to invest in the protection of their artwork from theft. We present and analyze a game-theoretic model of art heists that accounts for the strategic interactions between museums’ and art thieves’ decisions and that incorporates several key features of the black market for stolen art. We find that the equilibrium level of security museums choose need not be monotonic in the true market value or the black market value of artwork, i.e., increasing the value of an art piece—whether it is the true market value or the black market value—does not necessarily lead museums to invest more in protecting their artwork. The effects of parameter changes in the model that reflect a shift of public policy depend critically on what type of policy change is considered. For instance, an increase in the penalty imposed for committing art theft cannot raise the amount of theft in equilibrium and could in fact lead museums to increase their level of security. On the other hand, investing more resources on law enforcement agencies so that they are better able to solve art crimes can actually increase the amount of theft in equilibrium by causing museums to spend less on security.

Suggested Citation

  • Frederick Chen & Rebecca Regan, 2017. "Arts and craftiness: an economic analysis of art heists," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 41(3), pages 283-307, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jculte:v:41:y:2017:i:3:d:10.1007_s10824-016-9269-6
    DOI: 10.1007/s10824-016-9269-6
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Antonio Nicita & Matteo Rizzolli, 2009. "The Economics of Art Thefts: Too Much Screaming over Munch's The Scream?," Economic Papers, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 28(4), pages 291-303, December.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Art heists; Museums; Art thieves; Black market;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Z11 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economics of the Arts and Literature

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