Transparency Tools: How the Internet has Led to the Revival of the 'Art As An Asset' Mindset and Spurred Speculative Investing.

摘要

The Internet promised to democratize information across the economy and bring transparency to many different sectors. One area of the economy was influenced more than others: the art market. This is because the art world has a history of being opaque, with sales prices and projected returns difficult to come by. With the advent of the Internet in the 1990s, tools arose to disseminate this information to both art market neophytes and sophisticates thus lending a degree of transparency to the market. These transparency tools have led to a resurgence of the "art as an asset" mentality and changed the reasons people buy art. This thesis examines the ways these tools have affected the art market and buying habits of a new art buyers.