Art museums and the distribution of income semi—empirical foundations for impact analysis

Abstract

This study was begun following the development of four specific hypotheses concerning relationships between the level of Art Museum activity and the inter -family distribution of income in a community. The central issue addressed in the formulations and in the testing concerns the pattern and extent of re-distribution of real income that may result from museum activity. In this sense the results of this effort constitute a part of a larger study than is reported in this paper.The four hypotheses that, together, make up the larger argument are:

Introduction: Art and Political Economy

“…Of particular interest to political economy is the recent work on subsidization of art as social policy (Berleant 1979); state, corporate, and other support of the arts (Das 1979;Grampp 1997;Hazeldine 2000;West 1997aWest , 1997bHughes and Luksetich 1999;Zimmer and Toepler 1999;O'Hagan and Harvey 2000;Peacock 2000;Brooks 2001); art museums, artists, and the distribution of income (Waits 1977;Gassler and Grace 1980;O'Hagan 1998;Hendon, Costa, and Rosenberg 1989;Hendon 1990;Withers 1997;Garcia-Sobrescases and Lee 2000;Abbing 2002); art legislation in society (Bises 1997;Landes 2001); and intellectual property rights (Mantell 1995;Frank 1996;Burke 2000;Landes 3. See Dick et al 2000;Galenson 1999Galenson and Weinberg 2001;Bruegel and Galenson 2001;Gérard-Varet 1995;Mei and Moses 2002;Moureau 2000;Renneboog and Van Houtte 2002;and White 1996. The recent literature has also been encouraged by the publication of special issues of History of Political Economy (Supplement 1999) and the Recherches Économiques de Louvain (2000).…”