Policy Implications of a Composer Labor Supply Function
GENERAL
Paper presented at First International Conference on Arts and Economics, sponsored by the Association for Cultural Economics, held in Edinburgh, Scotland, August 8-10, 1979. Comment by Clark C. Abt, p. 198-199.
It is well known that fewer than a dozen composers make a living from composing alone. The others must find full-time employment, the majority being employed at institutions of higher learning. Part of their income from this activity is in turn used to subsidize the production of music. Because composers are required to spend most of their time in pursuit of a living, their musical output is curtailed and these unique musical resources are wasted.
To assess the influence of patronage on the output of compositions, one might test the hypothesis that a relatively modest improvement in the economic reward of composing will result in a relatively large additional investment of time in composing. What is needed is a labor supply model which explains the amount of time composers spend composing, as well as their income from such activity. (p. 186)
CONTENTS
The labor supply function.
The general model.
Formulation for empirical testing.
The total revenue function.
The two-stage least squares model.
The total revenue function.
The production function.
Policy implications.
Notes.
References [bibliography].
It is well known that fewer than a dozen composers make a living from composing alone. The others must find full-time employment, the majority being employed at institutions of higher learning. Part of their income from this activity is in turn used to subsidize the production of music. Because composers are required to spend most of their time in pursuit of a living, their musical output is curtailed and these unique musical resources are wasted.
