Should the arts receive public support? Can the arts survive in a modern capitalist society? Can economics shed light on the nature of public support, and whether there is a rationale for public intervention? This book undertakes to examine these questions as it explores the ways government and public resources are used to support the arts.

This book applies a Veblenian approach to understanding economic development to investigate public support for the arts in an effort to determine whether this approach can elucidate economic rationales for public support. Divided into...