The Economics of Art Museums
GENERAL
Review by Sarah S. Montgomery of the book The Economics of Art Museums [Chicago, IL: University of Chicago, 1991, 346 p.].
In 1989, the National Bureau of Economic Research sponsored a conference on the major economic questions confronting art museums. Museum directors and curators met with economists and representatives of foundations, auction houses, and the NEA. This volume contains an introduction by economist Martin Feldstein, six background papers, and the prepared remarks for the panel discussions around which the conference was organized. The background papers are by economists, whereas the panel presentations come from museum world professionals.
The economics of museums was defined broadly, with panels on The Museum Collection, The Museum and the Public, Museum Finances, and The Museum and the Government. The background papers, though not on strictly parallel subjects, collectively provide historical data and analytical perspectives related to each. Three of the papers, Tax Policy Toward art museums, by Don Fullerton; Government Policy Toward Art Museums in the by Charles T. Clotfelter, and Government Policy and Art Museums in the United Kingdom, by Rosemary Clarke, are especially clear and thorough policy summaries that are valuable reference sources, as is Art Museums in the : A Financial Portrait, in which Richard N. Rosett analyzes income and expenditure data from 1986 through 1988 surveys by the Association of Art Museum Directors. The panelists' remark reflect the variety of experience and styles of the nineteen participants but almost uniformly have an engaging openness and honesty as their authors attempt to sort out the strengths and difficulties of museums in the throes of an institutional mid-life crisis.
