Should more young people go to college? This morning's papers presented very different answers to the question. The New York Times reports on President Biden's idea that we ought to ensure there are good and interesting careers and stable incomes for people who do not want to, or find it very difficult to, obtain a college degree: Mr. Biden’s approach is a shift from previous Democratic administrations, which were far more focused on college as a path to higher pay and advancement. Mr. Obama, during his first joint session of Congress, said … [Read more...]

When arts presenters set prices, they know that there are some customers willing to pay top dollar for the highest quality offerings - the best seats in the house - while there are other potential customers who might have an interest in attending the show, but only at a lower price. The challenge in setting prices for different quality seats is that while we know there are different sorts of customers, some willing to pay a lot for high quality and others who are not, when a person comes to the box office window we cannot tell what sort of … [Read more...]

I'm at the stage of the semester where we begin our module on strategic planning. One of my favorite articles on the subject is from 1959, Charles Lindblom's "The Science of 'Muddling Through'", which takes abstract theorizing about ends and means down to the practical level of how plans are actually made in our world of organizations with histories, ways of doing things, and only limited information about the universe of possibilities; it could be thought of as something of an application of Michael Oakeshott's caution regarding "rationalism" … [Read more...]

A short, low-tech paper available for free download here on SSRN. The abstract: Suppose a reasonably wealthy country did not have an arts council that granted public funds to select artists and arts organizations. Would it be advisable to create one? One reason to do so, which comes from economic analysis, is that there might be market failures in the arts, whether public goods or, more likely, positive externalities, such that public subsidy would generate a more efficient allocation of resources. Another reason, although inconsistent … [Read more...]

The New York Times reports on how the Irish experiment in giving some randomly selected artists a small guaranteed income (while also observing a control group of artists not included in the program) is going: Lydia Mulvey, 47, a screenwriter, said that she quit her job in a telecommunications firm as soon as she heard she’d made it into the program. Now she spends her time writing pilot scripts for thrillers and sci-fi shows, rather than trying to squeeze that into evenings and weekends. “I knew it’d be transformative and give me my life … [Read more...]

"There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all." So says Oscar Wilde. Is he right? A new issue of the British Journal of Aesthetics has arrived in my mailbox, and the October 2022 issue is devoted to the question(s) of art and morality, including discussion of four recent books: Mary Beth Willard's Why It's OK to Enjoy the Work of Immoral Artists; Ted Nannicelli's Artistic Creation and Ethical Criticism; Erich Hatala Matthes's Drawing the Line: What to do with the Work of Immoral … [Read more...]

The Center for Cultural Affairs at Indiana University has developed a lively workshop series the past few years, and everyone is welcome to attend. They generally occur every two weeks, 12:00 noon Eastern (US) time, and last (strictly!) one hour. This Wednesday, March 22, the Center welcomes Professor Ken Elpus of the University of Maryland School of Music, who will discuss "Antecedents and Consequents of K-12 Music & Arts Education in America”. You can register here, and it will be via Zoom. On Friday, March 24, at Noon (until 1:30) … [Read more...]

In the US, in 1900, over 40 percent of the workforce was devoted to agriculture. Agriculture's share of GDP was 7.7 percent in 1930, 6.8 percent in 1945, 2.3 percent in 1970, and is less than 1 percent today, according to this study from the USDA. According to this study from Peterson-KFF, health care in the US, as a percentage of GDP, has risen from around 7 percent in 1970, to 13.3 percent in 2000, to 18.3 percent in 2021. These numbers are certainly interesting in gaining an understanding of economic trends. Baumol and Bowen's theory … [Read more...]

A few days ago I wrote a post re Valparaiso University's plans to sell three paintings, with an estimated total market value of $10 million, to deal with its rather dire financial situation, and to make investments seen necessary to attract students, whose numbers have fallen dramatically over the past decade. This generated some replies, which I am always grateful to receive. One respondent wrote: The university should donate the art to another museum if it can’t keep or care for the pieces and it should begin to sell off its real … [Read more...]

You are the president of a small, private liberal arts college that has fallen on hard times. Your enrolment has declined by 39% since 2016, you have had to cut academic programs, and your dormitories are badly in need of repair - attracting students is of paramount concern, but there are few funds available. Your campus has an art museum that holds 5,000 works, though none of them of any outstanding value. One morning you get a call from an alumnus who has done well for himself, and he says "I am giving the university $10 million; I want you … [Read more...]