On the Idiosyncrasies of the Labour Market for Visual Artists

Abstract

Labour markets for visual artists active on the primary art market are characterized by the oversupply of producers, strong product heterogeneity, elusive buyer tastes, and highly uncertain incomes. Self‐employment is the rule, and often, in combination with other (non)art‐related work. First, we describe these features and provide empirical evidence for the Netherlands. Second, we build an analytical model by adjusting the standard model of labour supply to allow for these features. Third, we provide further suggestions for empirical work focusing on career dynamics in markets with extreme uncertainty.