AUCTION AND INVESTMENTS IN THE ART WORLD

The Auction and Investment in the Art Market Course is a course that students can choose from a cluster of courses provided in the related and complementary activities of the study plan.

The course aims at analyzing well-defined aspects of art market. In particular it focuses on auction mechanism for purchasing and selling art objects; moreover, the course aims at analyzing the art investment as an alternative form of investment in the financial market. To better appreciate the topics investigated, some methodological tools will be introduced, such as game theory and edonic regression.

The course allows students to acquire knowledge of the different auction mechanisms and to acquire scientific methods with which to read and understand the scientific literature of reference on economic-financial studies concerning the art market.
Knowledge and understanding: knowledge and understanding of the different auction mechanisms; knowledge and understanding of some elements of the Games theory; knowledge and understanding of some methods for the valuation of investments in risk condition; knowledge and understanding of some methods for the determination of art market price indices.

It is suggested to follow first the course of Quantitative Methods for the Economics of Art and take the relative exam.

• Analysis of the different auction mechanisms.
• Auction sales anomalies.
• The phenomenon of collusion.
• Art auctions. Online auctions.
• Elements of game theory and applications to auction mechanisms.
• Investment in art: art as an asset class.
• Art market price indices.
• Evaluating projects under uncertainty and risk.
• Return and risk of investing in art.
• Diversification of the portfolio.
• Art investment funds.

• A.Basso, P. Pianca. Criteri di decisione per progetti aleatori. in: A.Basso, P. Pianca: Appunti di Matematica finanziaria, Cedam, 1997 (cap.7).
• C. McAndrew (ed.). Fine Art and High Finance, Bloomberg Press, 2010 (cap. 1-6)
• F. Patrone. La maledizione del vincitore, Lettera Matematica Pristem 52 pag. 33-35.
• F. Patrone. Breve introduzione alla teoria dei giochi, Dipartimento di Ingegneria della produzione.
• O. Ashenfelter, K. Graddy. Auctions and the Price of Art, Journal of Economic Literature, XLI, 2003, p. 763-786.
• G. Candela, P. Figini, A. Scorcu. Price Indices for Artists–A Proposal, Journal of Cultural Economics, 28, 2004, p. 285-302.
• L. Renneboog, C. Spaenjers. Buying Beauty: On Prices and Returns in the Art Market. Management Science, 59, 2013, p. 36-53.
• Teaching materials available to students on the Moodle platform (https://moodle.unive.it/ )

The preparation is checked by means of a written test.
The test consists of 3 open-ended questions, which can be divided into small subquestions, each of which contributes to the verification of the initial question.
The precise form of the final exam will depend on the health situation and on the disposition of the national authority at the time. Detailed instructions will be given by the instructor in time to prepare for the exam.

The course consists of 30 hours of frontal lessons. One or more in-depth seminars will be organised in which artists and/or other art market experts will share their experiences.

Italian

Detailed information on the program and study materials will be communicated at the beginning of the course on e-learning page (www.moodle.unive.it).

Accessibility, Disability and Inclusion
Accommodation and support services for students with disabilities and students with specific learning impairments

Ca’ Foscari abides by Italian Law (Law 17/1999; Law 170/2010) regarding support services and accommodation available to students with disabilities. This includes students with mobility, visual, hearing and other disabilities (Law 17/1999), and specific learning impairments (Law 170/2010). If you have a disability or impairment that requires accommodations (i.e., alternate testing, readers, note takers or interpreters) please contact the Disability and Accessibility Offices in Student Services: disabilita@unive.it.

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