Artistic Originals as a Capital Asset

Abstract

In 2002, I estimate that US artists, studios and publishers produced artistic originals worth $65.1 billion. By category, production was $9.8 billion in theatrical movies, $7.6 billion in original songs and recordings, $7.1 billion in original books, $35.6 billion in long-lived television programs and $5 billion in miscellaneous artwork. My research on television programs and miscellaneous artwork is still incomplete, so those numbers could change significantly in the final paper. The cost of producing this $65.1 billion in original artwork could be treated either as a current expense (method 1) or a capital investment (method 2). Under method 1, artistic production costs are treated as intermediate inputs in the same way as advertising costs, manufacturing costs and shipping costs. Final revenue from sales or rentals to households of reproductions of artistic originals is all that matters for measuring gross domestic product (GDP). This is the method BEA currently uses for artistic originals. On the other hand, under method 2, artistic production costs are treated as private investment and added to the pre-existing capital stock of artistic originals to get the total capital stock of artwork. This capital stock of copyrighted artwork then earns money

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