Economics & Aesthetics: How Can Art Economists Obtain the Aesthetic Knowledge they Need for their Economic Purposes?

Abstract

The insurmountable obstacle against which economists’ attempts to confront and solve the economic problems of art – public funding as the first among many – and that has forced them to retreat after the ignominious attempt to save face by promoting art as a ‘merit good’ is the total lack of any form of aesthetic knowledge whatsoever. No one knows what the nature of art is, hence what need it satisfies, and as a consequence, the nature and dynamics of the act of consumption are unknown, as is, more generally speaking, the social function of art. Thus, art economists are not able to confront a problem of industrial efficiency. The problem seems to be unsolvable: how can the economist acquire unlimited aesthetic knowledge – because this is what it is all about – and then: how can this knowledge be used in a professional, scientific way, and in complete autonomy? In this study, a solution to the problem is put forward. Constructed thanks to an innovation brought about by Chance, it enables the economist to acquire unlimited aesthetic, pedagogic and critical tools that he/she can use professionally – not as a dilettante – and in complete autonomy, so as to be able to confront and solve the economic problems of art, which are problems in marketing and industrial economics.