The Economics of Art and Culture

Description

The second edition of this survey of the economics of - and public policy towards - the fine arts and performing arts covers arts at federal, state, and local levels in the United States as well as the international arts sector. The work will interest academic readers in the field and scholars of the sociology of the arts, as well as general readers seeking a systematic analysis of the arts. Theoretical concepts are developed from scratch so that readers with no background in economics can follow the argument. The authors look at the arts' historical growth and then examine consumption and production of the live performing arts and the fine arts, the functioning of arts markets, the financial problems of performing arts companies and museums, and the key role of public policy. A final chapter speculates about the future of art and culture in the United States.

Charles M. (Mel) Gray is Professor of Business Economics in the Opus College of Business, University of St Thomas, where he has been teaching economics, strategy and nonprofit management to undergraduate and MBA students for more than 30 years. Previously he was a staff economist at the Federal Reserve Banks of St Louis and Minneapolis and for a Minnesota state agency, and he served as executive director of a community development agency. He has been a visiting or adjunct faculty member at Macalester College and the Universities of Oslo, North Carolina, Minnesota, British Columbia and Rochester. He received his BA in Social Science and Mathematics from Hendrix College and his AM and Ph.D. in Economics from Washington University. His primary research interests are the nonprofit and creative sectors, principally the nonprofit arts. He has authored or edited three books, and his publications include numerous articles and book chapters. He currently serves as editor of Nonprofit Management and Leadership, a leading research journal for the nonprofit sector. He has been a consultant to the US Department of Justice, the National Endowment for the Arts, the District of Columbia, several Minnesota state agencies and numerous companies, nonprofit organizations and trade associations.

"The economics of arts and culture are really not arcane, but arts policy-makers, arts managers and friends of the arts, as well as students and teachers, have needed an accessible guide to the subject, oriented to American conditions, for years. In the Heilbrun and Gray book we have a superb guide, comprehensible to the novice, useful to the initiated, comprehensive in coverage, up-to-date, and beautifully written." Dick Netzer, New York University