Buying Beauty: On Prices and Returns in the Art Market.

Summary This paper investigates the price determinants and investment performance of art. We apply a hedonic regression analysis to a new data set of more than one million auction transactions of paintings and works on paper. Based on the resulting price index, we conclude that art has appreciated in value by a moderate 3.97% per year, in real U.S. dollar terms, between 1957 and 2007. This is a performance similar to that of corporate bonds--at much higher risk. A repeat-sales regression on a subset of the data demonstrates the robustness of our index.