Art dealers

In a number of other respects, art markets deviate dramatically from textbook theory of perfect markets, and demonstrate a number of striking anomalies: transaction costs are high, preferences are socially shaped, and trust relationships are crucial owing to widespread information asymmetries. This entry details how art markets are segmented (commercial versus non-commercial, primary versus secondary, local versus global), how competition with art markets is structured and how dealers try to make markets for the art they have on offer. However, the way art is traded may be about to change: owing to the winner-take-all structure of the market, the dramatic rise of art fairs over the past two decades and the changing buying habits of dealers’ clients, increasing numbers of dealers are closing their doors.