The Arts in a Free Market Economy; T. Cowen

Markets base artistic success on inspir ing, entertaining, and educating other hu man beings, rather than on force or on political privilege. In a market economy, support for creative endeavors can be ob tained only by convincing other individu als-whether customers or patrons-that the project is worthwhile. Free markets therefore provide the material analog of the concepts of free speech and persuasion. The market economy encourages artistic production through diverse means. Growing wealth, for instance, enables more individ uals to pursue artistic vocations. Today the world supports a greater number of full-time artistic creators than ever before. The mar ket economy also has freed mankind from Dr. Cowen teaches economics at George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia. tiresome physical labor and has given our creative flights of fancy increasing room to grow and flourish. Higher standards of living give individuals more time to produce and consume art. A wealthy and comfortable society is also a beautiful society.

Money fertilizes the artistic spirit. Paul Cezanne lived from family allowances and inheritances. Poet Wallace Stevens worked as an insurance claimsman and William Carlos Williams worked as a doctor. T.S. Eliot worked in a bank while he wrote poetry. Paul Gauguin first accumulated his savings while working as a stockbroker and only later pursued a career in art. Other artists have engaged in the pursuit of money through their art itself. Mozart once wrote to his father: "Believe me, my sole purpose is to make as much money as possible; for after good health it is the best thing to have." Mozart was a keen bargainer who reaped the maximum profit from each concert or composition. Charlie Chaplin once remarked: "I went into the business for money and the art grew out of it. " These great creators did not "sell out," but rather turned their personal visions into material profit by reaching large numbers of eager customers.

Artistic Diversity Wealthy economies will support a diverse set of artistic visions. Financial security 748 gives artists the scope to reject societal values. Bohemian and avant-garde artists, in spite of their frequent protests against capitalism, owe their existence to that sys tem. Artists who do not care much about money are a luxury that can be afforded only in wealthy societies. The falling prices of artistic materials, brought on by technical progress, allowed the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist painters to subsist on the margins of society, outside the mainstream cultural establish ment. Later, the Impressionists achieved riches and fame by setting up independent networks of commercial distribution for their artworks. We tend to take artistic materials for granted, but the affordability of these ma terials required entrepreneurial innovation through markets. The artistic Renaissance of the Italian city-states sprang out of the growth of medieval commerce, which made painting, marble sculpture, and bronze cast ing affordable on a large scale. The literary revolution came to England in the eigh teenth century when the Industrial Revolu tion lowered the cost of paper and increased consumers' book-buying incomes. Blues, rock and roll, and jazz required the medium of electronic recording to spread and sup port themselves. Digital technology may well create new forms of art for our future.

The technologies of capitalism not only spur the future but also preserve the past through video cassettes, recordings, and picture book reproductions. The modem viewer has better access to Shakespeare than the Elizabethans did, and the modern listener has better access to any classical composer than did the peers of that com poser. More individuals watched Wagner's Ring Cycle during one television showing than have seen it during all the live perfor mances that have ever been staged. The increasingdivisionof laborin a mar ket economy also increases artistic diver sity, as recognized by Adam Ferguson and Adam Smith. Music, literature, and the arts have all given birth to a growing num ber of diverse genres and sub-genres. The greater the size of the market, the greater 749 the number of artistic forms that creators can earn a living from. Whereas authors in the eighteenth century could support them selves only by writing bestsellers, today's authors can earn good money in a variety of genres, including science fiction, mysteries, biographies, and travel books, to name but a few examples of many.

Artists have enjoyed increasing creative freedom over time. Unlike in previous eras, today's artists are not dependent on a single patron or customer. When artists do rely on a single patron, the artist must produce to meet the tastes of that patron or lose sup port. A multiplicity of sources of financial support allows artists to pick and choose projects to suit their tastes. Michelangelo, who faced strong market demand for his services in Florence, was able to walk away from his work on the Sistine Chapel when a conflict arose. He returned only when Pope Julius allowed him to finish the project to suit his desires. Cultural outsiders-such as African Americans, Jews, and women-have their best chance of artistic success in a market economy. Blues music, kept off the radio at first, moved into the jukeboxes, a decen tralized means of product delivery attuned to consumer tastes. Jewish immigrants drawing on their retail capital and exper tise-set up Hollywood studio empires to distribute their cinematic product. Women writers received little support from patrons and governments but connected with a wide readership once a market for novels arose. Capitalist corporations, who seek to market new ideas for profit, are more effective supporters of true multicultur alism than the "political correctness" ad vocates are.

The modern split between high culture, those creations receiving the most critical recognition, and "low" culture, the most popularcreations,reflectsthe diversityand sophistication of our culture, not its corrup tion. Modern artists can target niche audi ences and take more chances. The best works need no longer fit the most popular style. The massive amount of cultural "trash" around today-while it distresses 750 THE FREEMAN • DECEMBER 1995 The 1878 loan exhibition of miscellaneous objets d'art at The NationalAcademy ofArt in New York reflected the tremendous growth in the interest in decorative art during that era. many observers -is actually a symptom of the diverse artistic riches that we enjoy. Enter, the NEA Despite the historical successes of mar kets in supporting culture, the American government initiated the National Endow ment for the Arts in 1965. Yet even well before the creation of this agency, America led the world in modern art, popular music, and cinema, while also holding strong posi tions in literature, poetry, and contempo rary classical composition. America's pri vate museums and symphony orchestras have been the envy of the world. Supporters of government arts funding seek a contra dictory goal. They want to enjoy the benefits of a wealthy political elite without suffering the costs. We end up with the National Endowment for the Arts-an institution with an impossible mandate. It is supposed to deliver the benefits of aristocratic arts spending while remaining accountable to a political system based on the rule of law. In practice government funding has supported a cult of mediocrity. The NEA funds either bland, establishment efforts or more con troversial exhibits (e.g., Robert Mapple thorpe, Andres Serrano) that offend its tax paying supporters and violate its democratic mandate.

Advocates ofgovernment funding portray themselves as progressives but they actually support a historically reactionary position. Music and the arts have been moving away from government funding since the Middle Ages. The Renaissance, the Enlightenment, the nineteenth-century Romantic move ment, and twentieth century modernism all brought art further into the market nexus. Most of the important work in film, music, literature, painting, and sculpture-whether from the present or from the past-is now sold as a commodity. In the current debates over government funding, we should not forget that the history of art is a history of the struggle to establish markets. D THEFREEMAN IDEASON L1BERlY Ludwigvan Beethoven'sJoyous Affirmationof Human Freedom by Jim Powell L udwig van Beethoven inspired the world with his titanic liberating spirit. "His emotions at their highest level were almost godlike," declared critic H.L.