Learning outcomes

Arts and culture are able to promote the spiritual and intellectual dimension of human beings, yet to be produced they require resources – primarily human and material resources. Who does pay for them? And how much should they be paid? Moreover, given these costs, what is the quantity of art and culture that can be produced? Are there advantages – if any – also for our material well-being? These are typical economic questions. This course attempts to answer these questions, by studying from an economic point of view the characteristics of artistic and cultural goods, and the role of the associated creative industries.

Program

Programme
1. Introduction: the connection between economic and cognitive wealth
2. The economic features of the cultural and artistic
3. Theories of value: what is the just price of a piece of art?
4. How much culture and art should be prduced? The game of demand and supply
5. The industry of creativity: art and culture as an economic profession
6. The evolution of employment and prices in the industry of creativity
7. The impact of the “new economy” on the (re-)production of the art and culture
8. Economic policy to sustain art and culture

Textbooks:
(in Italian):
Throsby D., 2001, Economia e cultura, Bologna, Il Mulino.
Candela G. e Scorcu A., 2004, Economia delle arti, Bologna, Zanichelli.
Spiller Nardi C., 2005, Incontro con l'economia dell'arte, Torino, Giappichelli.

Notes and articles given during the course.

(in English)
Frey, B.S., 2000, Arts and Economics: Analysis and cultural policy, Heilderberg-New York, Springer-Verlag.
Heilbrun J., Gray C., 2001, The economics of Art and Culture, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.

Examination Methods