Edward Elgar Publishing

Recent development in cultural economics.

Towse (economics of creative industries, Erasmus U. Rotterdam, the Netherlands) presents 37 papers that provide examples of the past decade's research in the applied area of cultural economics — the economics of the arts, the heritage and media industries, and other aspects of the cultural sector. A large number of selections are taken from the Journal of Cultural Economics, which is not that surprising considering that it is the only academic journal solely dedicated to this particular subfield of economics. The papers have been organized into sections dealing with general issues, theoretical developments, ticket pricing, the performing arts, museums, built heritage, the art market, artists' labor markets, institutions and creativity, creative industries, and copyright. Examples of specific topics include the impact of MP3 downloading on the record industry, the relevance of transaction cost economics to inter-firm relationships in the music industry, the role of organizations in determining artistic innovation, economic theory of avant-garde and popular art, art as investment and the underperformance of masterpieces, and politico-economic interactions of German public performing arts institutions. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)