Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP10753
Authors: Kathryn Graddy
Abstract: Does creativity, on average, increase or decrease during bereavement? Dates of death of relatives and close friends of 33 French artists and 15 American artists were gathered from electronic sources and biographies, and information on over 15,000 paintings was collected from Blouin's Art Sales Index and the Metropolitan Museum of Art's online collection, including over 12,000 observations on price. To preview the results, an event study indicates that prices of paintings decrease by over one-third on average in the two years following the death of a friend or relative. Furthermore, paintings that were created during this bereavement period are less likely to be included in the the Met's collection.
Keywords: Art; Auctions; Creativity; Death
JEL Codes: O31; Z1
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| creativity (O36) | price of artworks (Z11) |
| bereavement (J65) | creative flow (O36) |
| creative flow (O36) | creativity (O36) |
| death of a friend or relative (J17) | creativity (O36) |
| death of a friend or relative (J17) | price of artworks (Z11) |