What Constitutes an International Art Center?

Abstract

What constitutes an international art center? To answer this question, I analyze the auction sales of fine art for 10 primary art markets; the results suggest four major findings: First, an expansion in the art market contributes to a more than proportional increase in art auction sales. Second, an increased GDP growth rate is positively associated with total auction sales, which indicates that GDP growth rate is an important contributing factor in the rise of East Asian art markets and the decline of Western art markets over the past four years. Third, the development of insurance and financial services sectors has a positive impact on auction sales, suggesting the importance of developing market infrastructures. Finally, the number of dominant art auction houses has a positive relationship with total auction sales, which reveals the statistically significant influence of market structure on the industry.