Art in Africa: Hedonic price analysis of the South African fine art auction market, 2009–2014

Real asset markets are characterized by illiquidity and heterogeneous assets, presenting challenges to price estimators. Use of a new dataset of 7,553 auction fine art lots brought to market in South Africa, for 2009–14, allows us to examine the full sales hedonic price estimator over a wide set of characteristics. Results validate full sale hedonic pricing: Identities of artists, medium and genre, dating characteristics, and physical characteristics of artwork are significant. External validity of hedonic pricing is supported by out-of-sample price prediction for 40 individual artists. Auction house catalogue presentation of art work also proves correlated with realized auction prices. Art as an asset finds support: art prices move countercyclically with GDP and domestic equity markets, pro-cyclically with off-shore equity markets, implying a risk diversification role. JEL Codes: D1, L8. Keywords: hedonic price equation, art market, South Africa Word Count: 9467 (including all Tables, Figures, References).     

Dynamics of fine wine and asset prices: evidence from short- and long-run co-movements

This article examines short- and long-term price linkages among the majority of fine wine and equity markets over the period of 2003 to 2012. We do not consider the price index (LIV-EX 100 or 500), as is typically undertaken in previous studies, but rather examine the auction price series of the world’s most traded wine-vintage pairs (5 Bordeaux first growth, 8 Bordeaux second growth, 5 Burgundy, 3 Rhone, 4 Italian, 5 Californian, 1 Australian and 1 Portuguese). A global equity index is also included using the Morgan Stanley Capital International World. Cointegration procedures, the Granger non-causality test, and ECM are used to analyse short- and long-run relationships among these markets. The results indicate a strong effect of financial markets on wine prices and short-term causality for certain wines. Moreover, the findings indicate short-run causality between the wines themselves, revealing a leader (exogenous) or follower (endogenous) status of certain fine wines in price dynamics, and also long-run causality for endogenous wines. This approach is relevant to portfolio diversification strategies and allows price movements to be anticipated more accurately than using an index approach.     

Price limits on a call auction market: Evidence from the Warsaw Stock Exchange

We empirically investigate the impact of price limits on volatility and autocorrelation in the call auction segment of the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE). Because call auctions offer time-out periods to investors, we do not expect price limits to counter overreaction and panic in this market structure. Indeed, our empirical findings show that price limits result in excess volatility on the next trading day and strong continuation of price movements, which indicates that price limits only delay the adjustment of prices to equilibrium levels. Our results question the necessity of price limits in the call auction system of the WSE.     

Forecasting Bordeaux wine prices using state-space methods

Generic Bordeaux red wine (basic claret) can be regarded as being similar to an agricultural commodity. Production volumes are substantial, they are traded at high frequency and the quality of the product is relatively homogeneous. Unlike other commodities and the top-end wines (which represent only 3% of the traded volume), there is no futures market for generic Bordeaux wine. Reliable forecasts of prices can to large extent replace this information deficiency and improve the functioning of the market. We use state-space methods with monthly data to obtain a univariate forecasting model for the average price. The estimates highlight the stochastic trend and the seasonality present in the evolution of the price over the period 1999 to 2016. The model predicts the path of wine prices out of sample reasonably well, suggesting that this approach is useful for making reasonably accurate forecasts of future price movements.     

Key market values for bottled wine in an emerging market: product attributes or business strategy?

ABSTRACT

This article focuses on the emerging bottled Chilean red wine market and studies the main determinants of the consumer price of wine sold on the domestic market. A hedonic price function was estimated for a sample of 810 wines using a quantile regression (QR) model. The database contains three variable groups to explain price: objective variables (national, international and vine quality designations), subjective variables (wine score) and business strategies used by wine producers. Results show that some objective variables have a greater impact on price than the wine score (a subjective variable) and business strategies, which vary for each quartile of prices analysed. Finally, this information will allow companies to design and implement marketing strategies to inform the consumer about the importance of some variables in the price of their product.     

A green winner's curse? Investor behavior in the market for eco-certified office buildings

This paper contributes to the growing literature on the economics of green buildings: by merging auction theory and hedonic regression analysis we investigate the relationship between market concentration and price premiums in the American market for eco-certified real estate assets. Auction theory is used to model price formation where eco-investors may differ in their valuation of assets. Controlling for a large number of features, the empirical results provide evidence of a significant and positive relationship between investors’ eco-certified market share and prices of eco-certified space. Contributing to the recent debate over the nature of the green premium, we find that eco-investors are creating clientele effects and that they may be subject to a green winner's curse.     

Estimation of a hedonic price equation for Burgundy wine

A hedonic price equation and two jury grade equations are estimated for Burgundy wine. The approach is the same as in an earlier Bordeaux wine paper (Combris et al., 1997). The data come from an experimental study that is very similar to the study on Bordeaux wines. The results for the two wine-growing regions are compared and discussed.     

Financial Returns and Price Determinants in the Australian Art Market, 1973–2003*

In this study, 37 605 paintings by 60 well-known Australian artists sold at auction over the period 1973–2003 are used to construct a hedonic price index. The attributes included in the hedonic regression model include the name and living status of the artist, the size and medium of the painting and the auction house and year in which the painting was sold. The resulting index indicates that returns on Australian fine-art averaged 7 per cent over the period with a standard deviation of 16 per cent. The hedonic regression model also captures the willingness to pay for perceived attributes in the artwork, and this shows that works by McCubbin, Gascoigne, Thomas and Preston and other artists deceased at the time of auction, works executed in oils or acrylic, and those auctioned by Sotheby's or Christie's are associated with higher prices.     

Asset pricing theory and the valuation of Canadian paintings

Abstract.  The valuation of Canadian paintings is analysed empirically. Using a sample of auction prices for major Canadian painters for the period 1968–2001, we run hedonic regressions to analyse the influence of various factors, including painter identity, on auction prices, as well as to construct a market price index. This index is used in a second‐stage analysis in which we analyse the properties of Canadian art viewed as an investment asset. We apply standard asset pricing theory, as incorporated in the capital asset pricing model (CAPM), to the analysis of price movements in the market for Canadian paintings.     

Hedonic prices and cost/benefit analysis

Hedonic prices have been used to evaluate the willingness to pay for attributes. We reformulate the notion of hedonic price from a composite price on housing to a unit price on traded quantities, in conformity with long run competitive equilibrium theory. This formulation was suggested (but not developed) by Rosen (J. Polit. Econ.82, No. 1 (1974), 34–35). By first characterizing an efficient allocation of consumers to space, we show that hedonic unit prices can be understood as a bid-rent function which supports the efficient allocation. This is despite the fact that the lots over which consumers bid are themselves endogenous. We show that unit hedonic prices reveal preferences in a manner different from composite hedonic expenditures.     

Semiparametric versus parametric hedonic wine price models: an empirical investigation

In this article, we conduct formal statistical tests to compare a semiparametric hedonic wine price model with its parametric counterpart using a Canadian data set. The relevant test results turn out to be overwhelmingly in favour of the semiparametric specification. The estimated semiparametric model also provides clear evidence of nonlinearity between wine prices and quality when other wine attributes are controlled for.     

The art of benchmarking: Picasso prints and auction house performance

The influence of the auction house on the price of comparable art objects is an issue in the economics of arts literature. The standard approach has been to run hedonic price regressions including the auction house as a dummy variable. The approach in this paper is to apply benchmarking tools developed in the efficiency and productivity literature directly to the auction house as a unit. New performance indices are developed based on a DEA benchmarking technique to analyse auction houses. The new indices discriminate well between auction houses by allowing one to identify both contemporaneous and inter-temporal performances. Additional best performance results are obtained for specific attributes.     

An analysis of the demand for housing attributes

This paper uses a two-step approach to estimate a system of structural demand equations for housing attributes. Estimation of a hedonic price regression, in the first step, yields implicit prices for housing attributes for the Toronto Metropolitan area in 1978, which are then used to estimate the expenditure share equations derived from the indirect translog utility function. Empirical results indicate that the composite housing attributes (used in the second stage model) are own-price elastic, while an examination of cross price relationships reveals that these attributes are reasonably substitutable.     

Expert opinion and cuisine reputation in the market for restaurant meals

As food is an experience good, the market for restaurant meals is a market where the cost of acquiring information regarding quality is relatively high. In such markets consumers often turn to reputation measures to guide purchase decisions. As Australia does not have a longstanding cuisine style of its own, and given Australia has been open to substantial immigration inflows since federation, it represents an especially appropriate market to study regarding the impact of individual restaurant reputation and collective cuisine reputation on meal prices. The following study uses the hedonic price approach to investigate the implicit price of individual reputation indicators, cuisine type reputation indicators and other objective indicators in the market for restaurant meals. The empirical findings presented suggest that both individual restaurant reputation and cuisine type reputation are important. Other important factors are shown to include the quality of the restaurant wine list, the availability of private dining rooms, and whether or not there is an outdoor dining option.     

向上叫价时钟双向拍卖机制设计

通过深入分析统一价格密封双向拍卖机制的诸多缺陷，充分借鉴单向拍卖市场上时钟拍卖的基本思想，将时钟拍卖引入双向拍卖市场，构建了一个无论从分配效率方面考虑还是从竞价风险方面考虑都优于统一价格密封双向拍卖机制，不仅为同类物品确定统一价格，还可以为不同类的物品确定其不同的价格的向上叫价时钟双向拍卖机制。     

Which is a better investment choice in the Hong Kong residential property market: a big or small property?

The relationship between property size and property investment yield is an interesting issue in the real estate market. Previous studies usually use the mean–variance criterion to compare the return-risk profiles of the yields of different property sizes in the United States. However, this criterion has a few shortcomings. This article provides the first attempt to use a stochastic dominance approach to analyse this issue. We adopt two powerful stochastic dominance tests to compare the yields of five property size classes in the Hong Kong residential property market. In our study, we analyse two possible investment outcomes: (1) investors could not rent out their properties, and thus they would gain/lose from the appreciation/depreciation of residential property prices; (2) investors could also gain from rental incomes. Our empirical results provide strong evidence to show that the yields of smaller property classes stochastically dominate the yields of bigger property classes, suggesting that buying smaller properties is a better investment choice in the Hong Kong residential property market.     

Market depth,domestic investors and price monotonicity violations

We re-examine the monotonicity violations of option price dynamics considering the roles of market depth and domestic investors. Violations caused by option price movements in conflict with underlying price movements tend to occur less frequently as the market depth increases, especially in the case of out-of-the-money options. In contrast, violations caused by option prices that remain sticky despite underlying price changes occur more frequently as the market depth increases. Both of these relationships are amplified by domestic investors.     

What to show on the wine labels: a hedonic analysis of price drivers of Sicilian wines

Unlike previous literature, we construct a hedonic model of wine price that incorporates all the main categories of variables simultaneously to enable a better evaluation of their importance on wine price formation. A comprehensive model has the advantage of providing more reliable estimates of the attributes' implicit prices thereby facilitating firms' pricing and improving effectiveness of wine production and marketing decisions. We utilize two different datasets of Sicilian wines collecting data from influential wine guides. Our results suggest that wine price strongly depends on objective features such as vintage, alcoholic content, geographical origin, grape variety, producer size and cellaring potential. In addition, use of containers like tonneaux and barrique positively affects prices, whereas use of concrete containers has a negative influence. No univocal indications emerge with regard to the effect of the type of company, type of viticulture and firm age. As for sensorial characteristics, our analysis provides novel evidence of the importance of olfactory variables such as aroma intensity and the presence of particular smells in the wine. Finally, current guides’ grades and firm reputation play a crucial role in determining wine prices as well.     

中国棉花期货和现货市场的价格关系研究

期货市场和现货市场之间的价格发现功能一直是监管部门和投资者十分关心的问题。本文借助信息共享模型、脉冲响应函数和方差分解等方法,对中国棉花的期、现货市场间的价格关系进行实证研究,定量刻划了期、现货市场在价格发现中的作用。研究结果表明:棉花期、现货价格之间存在显著的双向引导关系;二者存在长期均衡关系;期、现货市场都扮演重要的价格发现角色,期货市场在价格发现中处于主导地位。     

An experimental investigation of soft price caps in uniform price auction markets for wholesale electricity

This paper presents the results from an auction experiment using industry professionals and student participants who compete in a simulated wholesale market for electricity. Motivated by the intervention by FERC in response to the “meltdown” of the California spot market, we investigate the effect of including a “soft” price cap in a uniform price auction as a means of mitigating high prices. When prices are driven above the soft cap, offer curves become flat, in contrast to the hockey stick shape observed in a typical uniform price auction for electricity. This flat offer curve leads to market prices that are relatively insensitive to both generation costs and demand reductions.