Volume 2, 2014, Pages 119–143
Handbook of the Economics of Art and Culture
Chapter 6 – The Economics of Cultural Awards
Abstract
This
chapter considers the economic dimensions of prizes and awards in the
arts. It first treats the role of awards in the markets for artistic
goods: their effect on sales, earnings, and consumer demand, and their
function as judgment devices or quality signals. Also discussed are the
costs of mounting an awards program, and the economics of awards
administration and presentation. The chapter then takes up a broader set
of economic considerations, beyond those of commerce as such,
discussing the role of prizes as a form of symbolic capital in the
economy of prestige. This symbolic role includes their reputation
effects and relation to cultural branding; their function as a form of
incentive for artists; their capacity to predict or determine an
eventual canon of esteemed works; and their value within an increasingly
international system of cultural status hierarchies. Having surveyed
the existing literature, the chapter concludes by noting economists’
narrow and excessive emphasis on the material consequences of prizes,
and the many fundamental areas of inquiry that remain wide open for
future research. These include the economics of sponsorship,
particularly philanthropic sponsorship; the role of social capital and
the system of exchange and reciprocity involving judges, recipients, and
administrators; and the economics of the awards industry as a whole,
its global dispersion, and its large-scale functions and effects within
the creative economy.
Keywords
- Cultural awards;
- Literary prizes;
- Movies;
- Symbolic capital;
- Tournaments of value
JEL Classification Code
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