IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/cfswop/595.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Is gender in the eye of the beholder? Identifying cultural attitudes with art auction prices

Author

Listed:
  • Adams, Renée
  • Kräussl, Roman
  • Navone, Marco
  • Verwijmeren, Patrick

Abstract

In the secondary art market, artists play no active role. This allows us to isolate cultural influences on the demand for female artists' work from supply-side factors. Using 1.5 million auction transactions in 45 countries, we document a 47.6% gender discount in auction prices for paintings. The discount is higher in countries with greater gender inequality. In experiments, participants are unable to guess the gender of an artist simply by looking at a painting and they vary in their preferences for paintings associated with female artists. Women's art appears to sell for less because it is made by women.

Suggested Citation

  • Adams, Renée & Kräussl, Roman & Navone, Marco & Verwijmeren, Patrick, 2018. "Is gender in the eye of the beholder? Identifying cultural attitudes with art auction prices," CFS Working Paper Series 595, Center for Financial Studies (CFS).
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:cfswop:595
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/182452/1/1031264264.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Giuliano, Paola, 2017. "Gender: An Historical Perspective," IZA Discussion Papers 10931, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Rossin-Slater, Maya, 2017. "Maternity and Family Leave Policy," IZA Discussion Papers 10500, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Brunella Bruno & Emilia Garcia‐Appendini & Giacomo Nocera, 2018. "Experience and Brokerage in Asset Markets: Evidence from Art Auctions," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 47(4), pages 833-864, December.
    4. 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.
    5. Maya Rossin-Slater, 2017. "Maternity and Family Leave Policy," NBER Working Papers 23069, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Merja Heikkinen & Paula Karhunen, 1996. "Does public support make a difference, and for whom?," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 20(4), pages 341-358, December.
    7. Cobb-Clark, Deborah A., 2016. "Biology and Gender in the Labor Market," IZA Discussion Papers 10386, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Renneboog, L.D.R. & Spaenjers, C., 2009. "Buying Beauty : On Prices and Returns in the Art Market," Other publications TiSEM 1ff2278f-d1ef-480f-994d-5, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    9. David W. Galenson & Bruce A. Weinberg, 2000. "Age and the Quality of Work: The Case of Modern American Painters," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 108(4), pages 761-777, August.
    10. Tyler Cowen, 1996. "Why women succeed, and fail, in the arts," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 20(2), pages 93-113, June.
    11. Cecilia Rouse & Claudia Goldin, 2000. "Orchestrating Impartiality: The Impact of "Blind" Auditions on Female Musicians," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(4), pages 715-741, September.
    12. Galenson,David W., 2009. "Conceptual Revolutions in Twentieth-Century Art," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521129091, January.
    13. 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.
    14. Goldin, Claudia D. & Rouse, Cecilia, 2000. "Orchestrating Impartiality: The Impact of “Blind†Auditions on Female Musicians," Scholarly Articles 30703974, Harvard University Department of Economics.
    15. Martha J. Bailey & Jason M. Lindo, 2017. "Access and Use of Contraception and Its Effects on Women’s Outcomes in the U.S," NBER Working Papers 23465, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    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. Amy Whitaker & Roman Kräussl, 2020. "Fractional Equity, Blockchain, and the Future of Creative Work," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(10), pages 4594-4611, October.
    2. H. Dieter Dahlhoff & Tim Verriet, 2021. "Drivers of Buying Contemporary Art – Investoren und Family Offices als Marktakteure," Springer Books, in: Markt und Marketing der Contemporary Art, pages 173-247, Springer.
    3. Maria Marchenko & Hendrik Sonnabend, 2022. "Artists' labour market and gender: Evidence from German visual artists," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 75(3), pages 456-471, August.
    4. Thomas Baumert & Pedro Galván-Lamet & Esther Valbuena-García, 2023. "Is There Really a Gender Gap That Disfavors Female Painters? An Experimental Study in Spain," Springer Proceedings in Business and Economics, in: Nicholas Tsounis & Aspasia Vlachvei (ed.), Advances in Empirical Economic Research, chapter 0, pages 905-918, Springer.
    5. David, Géraldine & Li, Yuexin & Oosterlinck, Kim & Renneboog, Luc, 2021. "Art in Times of Crisis," Other publications TiSEM 34925083-7378-4691-ba63-6, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    6. Géraldine David & Yuexin Li & Kim Oosterlinck & Luc Renneboog, 2024. "Art in times of crisis," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 77(4), pages 1362-1413, November.
    7. Laurie Cameron & William N. Goetzmann & Milad Nozari, 2019. "Art and gender: market bias or selection bias?," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 43(2), pages 279-307, June.
    8. Li, Yuexin & Ma, X. & Renneboog, Luc, 2021. "Pricing Art and the Art of Pricing : On Returns and Risk in Art Auction Markets," Discussion Paper 2021-018, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
    9. Shailendra Gurjar & Usha Ananthakumar, 2023. "The economics of art: price determinants and returns on investment in Indian paintings," International Journal of Social Economics, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 50(6), pages 839-859, January.
    10. Chad M. Topaz & Jude Higdon & Avriel Epps-Darling & Ethan Siau & Harper Kerkhoff & Shivani Mendiratta & Eric Young, 2022. "Race- and gender-based under-representation of creative contributors: art, fashion, film, and music," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-11, December.
    11. Michał Szostak, 2021. "Impact of gender differences in perception of creative identities of artist, creator, manager, entrepreneur and leader on sustainability," Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues, VsI Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Center, vol. 9(2), pages 10-36, December.
    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. Lisa Farrell & Jane M. Fry & Tim R. L. Fry, 2021. "Gender differences in hammer prices for Australian Indigenous art," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 45(1), pages 1-12, March.
    14. Li, Yuexin, 2021. "Pricing art: Returns, trust, and crises," Other publications TiSEM 8832c172-83dd-4ed9-8215-0, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    15. Hoffmann, Robert & Coate, Bronwyn, 2022. "Fame, What’s your name? quasi and statistical gender discrimination in an art valuation experimentc," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 202(C), pages 184-197.

    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. Renée B Adams & Roman Kräussl & Marco Navone & Patrick Verwijmeren & Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh, 2021. "Gendered Prices [Can culture affect prices? A cross-cultural study of shopping and retail prices]," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 34(8), pages 3789-3839.
      • Renée B Adams & Roman Kräussl & Marco Navone & Patrick Verwijmeren, 2021. "Gendered Prices," Published Paper Series 2021-4, Finance Discipline Group, UTS Business School, University of Technology, Sydney.
    2. Abigail LeBlanc & Stephen Sheppard, 2022. "Women artists: gender, ethnicity, origin and contemporary prices," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 46(3), pages 439-481, September.
    3. Penasse, J.N.G. & Renneboog, Luc & Scheinkman, Jose, 2021. "When a master dies : Speculation and asset float," Other publications TiSEM a3595ed2-e69d-4bb2-9320-7, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    4. Ma, Yongfan & Qi, Tiancheng, 2023. "China mainland art investment: Return and portfolio," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 58(PC).
    5. Julien Pénasse & Luc Renneboog & José A Scheinkman & Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh, 2021. "When a Master Dies: Speculation and Asset Float [Optimal financial crises]," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 34(8), pages 3840-3879.
    6. Milad Nozari, 2022. "Investment horizon for private‐value assets: Evidence from the art market," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 45(2), pages 229-246, June.
    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. Li, Yuexin & Ma, X. & Renneboog, Luc, 2021. "Pricing Art and the Art of Pricing : On Returns and Risk in Art Auction Markets," Discussion Paper 2021-018, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
    9. Penasse, J.N.G. & Renneboog, L.D.R., 2014. "Bubbles and Trading Frenzies : Evidence from the Art Market," Other publications TiSEM 386dd5e7-e672-4d9d-829c-6, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    10. Penasse, J.N.G. & Renneboog, L.D.R., 2014. "Bubbles and Trading Frenzies : Evidence from the Art Market," Discussion Paper 2014-068, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
    11. Shailendra Gurjar & Usha Ananthakumar, 2023. "The economics of art: price determinants and returns on investment in Indian paintings," International Journal of Social Economics, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 50(6), pages 839-859, January.
    12. 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.
    13. Mathieu Aubry & Roman Kräussl & Gustavo Manso & Christophe Spaenjers, 2023. "Biased Auctioneers," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 78(2), pages 795-833, April.
    14. 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.
    15. Vecco, Marilena & Prieto-Rodriguez, Juan & Teerink, Simone, 2024. "Climbing the ladder? The gender gap in art prices across artists’ cohorts in the Dutch art market," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    16. Fabian Y.R.P. Bocart & Eric Ghysels & Christian M. Hafner, 2020. "Monthly Art Market Returns," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-22, May.
    17. Roman Kräussl & Alessandro Tugnetti, 2024. "Non‐Fungible Tokens (NFTs): A Review of Pricing Determinants, Applications and Opportunities," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(2), pages 555-574, April.
    18. Robert B. Ekelund & John D. Jackson & Robert D. Tollison, 2013. "Are Art Auction Estimates Biased?," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 80(2), pages 454-465, October.
    19. Amy Whitaker & Roman Kräussl, 2020. "Fractional Equity, Blockchain, and the Future of Creative Work," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(10), pages 4594-4611, October.
    20. Spaenjers , Christophe & Goetzmann , William, 2014. "The Economics of Aesthetics and Three Centuries of Art Price Records," HEC Research Papers Series 1055, HEC Paris.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Art; Auction; Gender; Culture; Bias;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Z11 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economics of the Arts and Literature
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • D44 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Auctions

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:zbw:cfswop:595. 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: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ifkcfde.html .

    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.