Contemporary art, in particular, has served rich investors well in the past few years. Prices stayed stable when stock markets fell. Nevertheless, one recent academic study has found a correlation with another asset class: during the last world art boom, in the late 1980s, prices were closely tied to property values, specifically Japanese land prices. After 1990, art and property fell together. Now property prices in several countries are once again at frightening heights.

Investing in art will always be a risky business. Works of art by definition belong to different categories; holding periods vary; the market is illiquid; art yields no income, producing only capital gain or loss; transaction costs are high. As for contemporary art in particular, it is a sobering thought that, according to Mr Moses, each year an average of only two artists emerge whose work increases in value over time. All this speaks against a big commitment to speculating in art; better, maybe, simply to buy what you like, if you can: treat your money, in other words, not as invested but as consumed.

上一页  [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30]  下一页