Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Preferred work patterns of creative artists

  • Arts and Culture Symposium
  • Published:
Journal of Economics and Finance Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Recent research has highlighted ways in which the labour market behaviour of artists differs from the predictions of conventional theory. This paper considers one particular aspect of artists’ labour supply, i.e. the extent to which preferred time allocations to creative work can be realised, given the multiple job-holding and other characteristics of artists’ working arrangements. It is suggested that greater financial security and the accumulation of human capital are likely to be associated with increased ability to achieve equilibrium between desired and actual labour supply to the market for creative work. These propositions are tested empirically using data from a recent survey of practising professional artists in Australia.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abbing, H. 2002.Why Are Artists Poor? The Exceptional Economy of the Arts. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Alper, N.O. and G. H. Wassail. 2006. “Artists’ Careers and Their Labor Markets.” in Ginsburgh and Throsby (eds) 2006.

  • Benhamou, F. 2000. “The Opposition between Two Models of Labour Market Adjustment: The Case of Audiovisual and Performing Arts Activities in France and Great Britain over a Ten Year Period.”Journal of Cultural Economics 24: 301–319.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Caves, R.E. 2000.Creative Industries: Contracts between Art and Commerce. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cowen, T. and A. Tabarrok. 2000. “An Economic Theory of Avant-Garde and Popular Art, or High and Low Culture.”Southern Economic Journal 67: 232–253.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Filer, R.K. 1989. “The Economic Condition of Artists in America.” in D. V. Shaw et al. (eds.), 1989.Cultural Economics 88: An American Perspective. Akron: Association for Cultural Economics.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ginsburgh, V. and D. Throsby (eds.) 2006.Handbook of the Economics of Art and Culture. Amsterdam: Elsevier/North Holland.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heikkinen, M. 1995. “Evaluating the Effects of Direct Support on the Economic Situation of Artists.”Journal of Cultural Economics 19: 261–271.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jeffri, J. and R. Greenblatt. 1998.Information on Artists: A Study of Artists’ Work-Related Human and Social Service Needs in Four U.S. Locations. New York: Research Center for Arts and Culture, Columbia University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Karhunen, P. (1998), “Labour Market Situation of Graduated Artists.” in M. Heikkinen and T. Koskinen (eds.),Economics of Artists and Arts Policy. Helsinki: Arts Council of Finland.

    Google Scholar 

  • Menger, P.M. 2006. “Artistic Labor Markets: Contingent Work, Excess Supply and Occupational Risk Management.” in Ginsburgh and Throsby (eds.) 2006.

  • Rengers, M. 2002.Economic Lives of Artists: Studies into Careers and the Labour Market in the Cultural Sector. Utrecht: Utrecht University, Interuniversity Center for Social Science Theory and Methodology.

    Google Scholar 

  • Robinson, M.D. and S.S. Montgomery. 2000. “The Time Allocation and Earnings of Artists.”Industrial Relations 39: 525–534.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Throsby, D. 1992. “Artists as Workers.” in Towse and Khakee (eds.)Cultural Economics. Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag.

    Google Scholar 

  • Throsby, D. 1994a. “A Work-Preference Model of Artist Behaviour.” in A. Peacock and I. Rizzo (eds.) 1994.Cultural Economics and Cultural Policies. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Throsby, D. 1994b. “The Production and Consumption of the Arts: A View of Cultural Economics.”Journal of Economic Literature 32: 1–29.

    Google Scholar 

  • Throsby, D. 1996. “Disaggregated Earnings Functions for Artists.” in V. Ginsburgh and P.M. Menger (eds.) 1996.Economics of the Arts: Selected Essays. Amsterdam: North Holland.

    Google Scholar 

  • Throsby, D. and V. Hollister. 2003.Don’t Give Up Your Day Job: An Economic Study of Professional Artists in Australia. Sydney: Australia Council.

    Google Scholar 

  • Towse, R. and A. Khakee (eds.), 1992.Cultural Economics. Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag.

    Google Scholar 

  • Towse, R. 2006. “Human Capital and Artists’ Labour Markets.” in Ginsburgh and Throsby (eds.) Amsterdam: Elsevier/North Holland.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wassail, G.H. and N.O. Alper. 1992. “Towards a Unified Theory of the Determinants of the Earnings of Artists.” in Towse and Khakee (eds.) 1992.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia

    David Throsby

Authors
  1. David Throsby
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to David Throsby.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Throsby, D. Preferred work patterns of creative artists. J Econ Finan 31, 395–402 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02885729

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02885729

Keywords

Search

Navigation