Autographs and the global art market: the case of hedonic prices for French autographs (1960–2005)

Journal article: The market for autographs has become more open to international buyers since 1990. Our data set features a large sample of store and auction sales for selected authors every 5 years from 1960 to 2005. The estimation of a hedonic price function shows that page count, type of author, date and type of the document conditionally to author explain more than three quarters of the price differences. The apparent price of autographs increased by 7.7 % per year during the period, while the hedonic price index increased by 7.9 % on average. With a supply function responsive to market valuation, as well French autograph prices seemingly showing trend similar to art market index, the French autograph market has become more integrated in the global art market.

Author(s)

Pierre-Charles Pradier, François Gardes, Xavier Greffe, Ileana Miranda Mendoza

Journal
  • Journal of Cultural Economics
Date of publication
  • 2016
Keywords
  • Hedonic price method
  • Pseudo-panel
  • Akerlof effect
  • Autographs
  • French art market
Pages
  • 453-485
Version
  • 1
Volume
  • 40