MARKET AS NARRATIVE AND CHARACTER

In this essay, the author analyzes social science thinking about the capitalist market from instrumentalism to institutionalism and the recent turn toward more cultural economics, and propose to enlarge the latter opening via the 'strong program' in cultural sociology. Nineteenth century' big thinkers' conceptualized the market as if it were entirely deracinated, based on alienation and pure calculation. The profession of economics subtracted the social critique from this dismal understanding and converted the dismal science into mathematical predictions and production functions. The new economic sociology exposed the institutional framework of market decisions, emphasizing social networks and status competition. Cultural economic sociology has challenged institutionalism, showing how social meanings, not just institutional position, determines economic value. The next step is to demonstrate that the market itself depends on cultural meanings. The strength of a market depends upon narrative projections of future economic conditions. An optimistic scenario creates confidence and sparks investment. A pessimistic narrative creates fear and leads investors keep their money tight. Confidence in the future depends on constructions of 'character': will economic actors constrain themselves by acting in a sober and moral way or will they be hedonistic, indulging in short-term satisfaction? This cultural-sociological theory is illustrated with reference to Keynes' General Theory about the 1930s Great Depression and U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke's policy vis-à-vis the current Great Recession.     

Implications of the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights for Cultural Dimensions of National Copyright Laws

Many national intellectual property laws contain provisions that reflect cultural values and have trade significance. Although cultural value defenses have generally been rejected by GATT and WTO panels, they may be more likely to succeed in intellectual property disputes because many culturally-laden rules are widely accepted in the international intellectual property arena. Moreover, intellectual products are less completely commodified than other products. Cultural economists can provide valuable insights to aid WTO in distinguishing between those culturally-laden intellectual property rules that should be or should not permitted when they have an impact on trade.     

Competing Quality Conventions in the French Online Display Advertising Market

This paper builds upon an empirical study of suppliers of online advertising space in France in order to highlight the plurality of quality conventions that organize the activity of market intermediaries. We show that the market is organized around two different quality conventions, the ‘media’ convention and the ‘direct-response’ convention, each equipped with specific efficiency indicators, pricing methods and selling channels. Then we focus on the growing conflict of territory between the two conventions; we analyse the balance of power between the conventions and the arenas where they compete. We observe that the collective action of the defenders of the traditional world is not (yet) sufficient to contain the pervasiveness of the indicators and metrics from the world of direct-response.     

The law of one price,noise and “irrational exuberance”: the auction market for Picasso prints

We use prices realized for Picasso prints at auctions worldwide, as well as the 100 prints that comprise his Vollard Suite, to test the law of one price: the proposition that identical art objects sold contemporaneously should command the same price regardless of the auction house or geographic region where the sale takes place. Picasso is the most prolific printmaker of the twentieth century and, from 1977 to 2004, his prints appreciated in price significantly faster than the prints of modern masters as a whole. We find that Picasso prints sold in the United States command higher prices than in Europe. However, prices realized at Sotheby’s in New York are no longer higher than at Christie’s in New York, nor at Kornfeld than at other auction houses. We find evidence of “irrational exuberance” in the transitory nature of the extraordinary prices realized for the Picasso prints included in the 1997 sale of the collection of Victor and Sally Ganz at Christie’s in New York. More generally, we find substantial noise in auction outcomes, a result well known to savvy auction goers.

The economic contribution of volunteerism toward the value of our cultural inventory

Scholars for centuries have been investigating and debating what determines the value of a good or service. However, the market has chosen to ignore what has been categorized as nonmarket transactions such as volunteerism. This paper will examine the economic contribution of volunteerism and its impact on our cultural inventory. Economic literature reveals three possible alternative methods to calculating the dollar figure for non-compensated volunteerism. They are Opportunity Cost Approach, Value-Added Approach, and Market Price Equivalency Model. Has cultural volunteerism contributed to cultural inventory by providing an expansion of our knowledge of the past and understanding the future?     

Beyond the Dogma of the Fixed Book Price Agreement

After describing the essential features of the book market, a welfare analysisof the fixed book price agreement is given. Allowance is made for theopportunity cost of reading. Theoretically such an agreement pushes up bookprices and depresses book sales. However, more titles will be published,particularly books with low price elasticity and those that take a long timeto read. Potential advantages of better service, distribution and retailnetworks seem less relevant. The book market is one of imperfect competition,but even so the cross-subsidy argument is unlikely to be valid. A qualitativeanalysis of the Dutch situation is given. Tentative conclusions are that oneshould be more concerned about the number of well-stocked bookshops than thediversity of published titles and that debutantes do not face big barriers toentry. One should be even more concerned about the falling proportion ofpeople reading books. Governments fail to set (quantitative) objectives forthe fixed book price agreement, which makes it difficult to evaluate itssuccess and contributes to it being treated as dogma in the book world and thepolitical arena.