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The Returns to Picasso's Prints and to Traditional Financial Assets, 1977 to 1996

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Abstract

This paper updates prior work by Pesando (1993) regarding art as an investment. Using world-wide auction prices for Picasso prints for the period 1977 to 1996, this paper establishes that (1) a recovery in the art market did occur in the mid-1990s, but (2) the real rate of return on this segment of the art market remains low relative to its risk. Indeed, the real rate of return is beneath that provided by U.S. Treasury Bills.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Economics, Institute for Policy Analysis, University of Toronto, 140 St. George Street, Suite 707, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5S 3G6

    James E. Pesando

  2. Schulich School of Business, York University, Toronto, Canada

    Pauline M. Shum

Authors
  1. James E. Pesando
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  2. Pauline M. Shum
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Pesando, J.E., Shum, P.M. The Returns to Picasso's Prints and to Traditional Financial Assets, 1977 to 1996. Journal of Cultural Economics 23, 181–190 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007595305661

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007595305661

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