Aesthetics and Economics.

• Author: McRae, Larry T.

This monograph concerns goods which have an "esthetic qualification," which here seems to mean "art," such as painting or music. However, the definition Gianfranco Mossetto chooses for "esthetic" is much wider: following Immanuel Kant, he defines it as encompassing those goods which have no aim or purpose. Mossetto believes that this captures the essence of goods whose only purpose is to give abstract pleasure and so allows a clear distinction from goods which have utilitarian or moral purposes.

The author does briefly acknowledge that this particular definition may cover many goods, but he does not seem to have contemplated just how widely it might stretch. Under this definition, anything beyond a market basket just sufficient to allow the human organism to survive and reproduce is "esthetic," and most of our choices even in basic food and drink are esthetic. If not, why would we prefer fresh to frozen vegetables or generally seek to avoid campus cafeterias? Mossetto makes no attempt to extend his conclusions to this wide class of goods; while he has explored some odd facets of art goods, the author really has made no clear distinction between these goods and many others that would not be considered art. Nor has he articulated the reason economists have generally felt it unnecessary to dwell on the esthetic dimensions of ordinary goods. Thus, the significance of this work is unclear.

Moreover, the chosen definition is not applied in a consistent fashion. The author looks at several ways of modelling esthetic goods and at several phenomena which may be especially pronounced with art goods, but these are introduced almost ad hoc; they do not flow naturally from Mossetto's basic definition and premises. The result is predictably uneven; some of Mossetto's observations are interesting, if a bit tentative, while others seem incomplete or simply wrong.

The most interesting parts of this monograph are the modelling of esthetic consumption as a kind of addiction and the attempt to explain the role of "certifiers" in art markets. Enjoying the consumption of art requires learning about art, requires, that is, investment in prior consumption. It is surely a familiar notion that educated taste is more refined than raw and inexperienced taste. Equally familiar is the idea that certain things are likely to repel us at first encounter but become very enjoyable with experience; who has not heard the old saw that one must "develop a taste" for Scotch...