The Labor Market in the Seventeenth-Century Italian Art Sector

45 Pages Posted: 15 Feb 2020

See all articles by Federico Etro

Federico Etro

Ca Foscari University of Venice

Silvia Marchesi

Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca - Department of Economics, Management and Statistics (DEMS); Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca - Center for European Studies (CefES); University of Milan - Centro Studi Luca d'Agliano (LdA)

Laura Pagani

University of Milan, Bicocca - Faculty of Economics; Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca - Center for Interdisciplinary Studies in Economics, Psychology & Social Sciences (CISEPS); Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca - Department of Economics, Management and Statistics (DEMS)

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: December 1, 2011

Abstract

We analyze the labor market for painters in Baroque Rome using unique panel data on primary sales of still lifes, portraits, genre paintings, landscapes and figurative paintings. In line with the traditional hierarchy of genres, average price differentials between them were high. We identify supply and demand factors related to prices of paintings. The panel dimension of the dataset and its matched painter-patron nature allow us to evaluate the extent to which price heterogeneity is related to unmeasured differences among painters or patrons. Most of the inter-genre price differential is explained by the variation in average individual heterogeneity across genres: this suggests that the market was rather competitive and allocated artists between artistic genres to the point of equalizing the marginal return of each genre. We also explain residual price differences in terms of efficiency wage, signalling and incentive mechanisms to induce effort in the production of artistic quality.

Keywords: Art market, Occupational choice, Wage equalization, Signalling

JEL Classification: Z11, N0, D4

Suggested Citation

Etro, Federico and Marchesi, Silvia and Pagani, Laura, The Labor Market in the Seventeenth-Century Italian Art Sector (December 1, 2011). University Ca' Foscari of Venice, Dept. of Economics Research Paper Series No. 23, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1970509 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1970509

Federico Etro (Contact Author)

Ca Foscari University of Venice ( email )

Dorsoduro 3246
Venice, Veneto 30123
Italy

Silvia Marchesi

Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca - Department of Economics, Management and Statistics (DEMS) ( email )

Piazza dell'Ateneo Nuovo, 1
Milano, 20126
Italy
+39 02 64483057 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://https://sites.google.com/site/ssilviamarchesi/home

Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca - Center for European Studies (CefES)

University of Milan - Centro Studi Luca d'Agliano (LdA)

Via P. Amedeo 34
Milano, Mi 20122
Italy

Laura Pagani

University of Milan, Bicocca - Faculty of Economics ( email )

Italy

Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca - Center for Interdisciplinary Studies in Economics, Psychology & Social Sciences (CISEPS) ( email )

Piazza dell'Ateneo Nuovo, 1
Milano, 20126
Italy

Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca - Department of Economics, Management and Statistics (DEMS) ( email )

Piazza dell'Ateneo Nuovo, 1
Milan, 20126
Italy

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
81
Abstract Views
937
Rank
331,218
PlumX Metrics