We analyze the labor market for painters in Baroque Rome using unique data on primary sales of portraits, still lifes, genre paintings, landscapes, and figurative paintings. In line with the traditional artistic hierarchy of genres, average price differentials between them were high. The matched painter-patron nature of the dataset allows us to evaluate the extent to which price heterogeneity is related to unobservable characteristics of painters and patrons. We find that the market allocated artists between artistic genres to the point of equalizing the marginal return of each genre. Residual price differences at the employer level can be explained in terms of incentive mechanisms to induce effort in the production of artistic quality and compensating wage differentials. (JEL C23, D8, J3, Z11)

Etro, F., Marchesi, S., Pagani, L. (2015). The Labor Market in the Art Sector of Baroque Rome. ECONOMIC INQUIRY, 53(1), 365-387 [10.1111/ecin.12115].

The Labor Market in the Art Sector of Baroque Rome

ETRO, FEDERICO;MARCHESI, SILVIA;PAGANI, LAURA
2015

Abstract

We analyze the labor market for painters in Baroque Rome using unique data on primary sales of portraits, still lifes, genre paintings, landscapes, and figurative paintings. In line with the traditional artistic hierarchy of genres, average price differentials between them were high. The matched painter-patron nature of the dataset allows us to evaluate the extent to which price heterogeneity is related to unobservable characteristics of painters and patrons. We find that the market allocated artists between artistic genres to the point of equalizing the marginal return of each genre. Residual price differences at the employer level can be explained in terms of incentive mechanisms to induce effort in the production of artistic quality and compensating wage differentials. (JEL C23, D8, J3, Z11)
Articolo in rivista - Articolo scientifico
Inter-industry wage differentials, Matched employer-employee data, Occupational choice, Art market
English
2015
53
1
365
387
none
Etro, F., Marchesi, S., Pagani, L. (2015). The Labor Market in the Art Sector of Baroque Rome. ECONOMIC INQUIRY, 53(1), 365-387 [10.1111/ecin.12115].
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/10281/50614
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