An economic model of artistic behavior

On the Idiosyncrasies of the Labour Market for Visual Artists

“…37 Thus, the model does not fit the 'mad potter of Biloxi' who made thousands of pieces of pottery, all different, lived in poverty because he asked outrageous prices and did not sell anything, and closed his kiln when he got a large inheritance (and from then on only worked to increase his fame as a loon). The Waits and McNertney (1984) seems a better match. See http://www.smithsonianmag.c om/arts-culture/the-mad-potter-of-biloxi-106065115/ 38 Menger (2009) and Alper and Wassal (2009) discuss uncertainty and lifecycle aspects, but do not develop formal modelling.…”

“…Confronted with the strong urge for autonomous art work, it also has the largest scope for drama (see feature 10 in Section ). Waits and McNertney () have developed a lifetime model for labour supply as an artist where instant utility depends on consumption and leisure time, and where utility for work as an artist is only represented as the utility from an artistic legacy, in a world without uncertainty. The analysis specifies (first‐order) conditions for choosing either an artistic or a non‐artistic career and does not allow for career switches.…”

A Model of Employment in the Arts

“…Earlier work includes a model by Waits and McNertney (1984) in which choice between the arts and non-arts sectors is based on estimates of expected returns from a lifelong career in the chosen sector and a model by Throsby (1994) based on the concept of a 'driven' artist who is interested in non-arts activity only to help sustain a minimum level of personal consumption.…”