The True Value of Art

Roman Kräussl’s lecture deals with development trends on art markets, particularly with the phenomenon of high price phases preferably termed »bubble« in journalistic texts. However, using economic definitions as a basis, bubbles are actually a rare phenomenon in the art market. Against this background and in a frame of reference provided by economics, Roman Kräussl raises the question of whether tendencies towards a bubble can be recognised or forecast in the subfield of contemporary art using empirical data and advanced statistical models.

The title of the lecture is based on the following assumptions as to the speculative investment value of art and on the more specific question posed by Roman Kräussl: »Recent research indicates that investing in art has outperformed equity, bond, and other alternative investments. However, for many the art market remains masked in mystery, confusing and unapproachable. Can we determine the true value of art?«

Dr. Roman Kräussl is Professor at the Luxembourg School of Finance and also holds a position as adjunct Associate Professor at Goizueta Business School, Emory University, Atlanta. He is a research fellow at the Center for Financial Studies at Johann Wolfgang Goethe University Frankfurt am Main and at the Emory Center for Alternative Investments. He has been organizing and moderating numerous academic and industry-oriented conferences on the link between Art, Finance and Wealth Management. His research focuses on Alternative Investments and Behavioral Finance and has been published in leading academic journals. Roman Kraeussl established the website www.art-finance.com, where he publishes some of his recent work on art as an alternative asset class, and is contributing editor at Art+Auction and author of its monthly Databank column.

The lecture is based on a cooperation of Kunstraum of Leuphana University of Lüneburg with KIM, Innovation Incubator at Leuphana University of Lüneburg. The Innovation Incubator Lüneburg is an EU major project, financed by the European Regional Development Fund and co-funded by the federal state of Lower Saxony.