Depreciación de las Obras de Arte: Un Análisis desde la Teoría General del Costo

Abstract

This article seeks to make a reflection on a concept supposedly settled by the discipline as it is that the depreciation of a capital good leads to a loss of value. Although there is a doctrinal consensus in which the factors or resources (imputs) necessary for industrial production suffer a loss of value to be gradually consumed in a productive process (be it machinery, vehicles or real estate), no references have been found when the goods subject to Process are works of art, as is often the case in museums or private collections open to the public.
The last five years, and in particular the year 2015, has been relevant for the art market, reaching in May 2015 a price at auction for the workThe women of Algiers (version O) by Pablo Picasso of 179.36 million dollars, As well as being beaten the record of sculptures with the work Man that indicated of Alberto Giacometti, that was auctioned in 126 million dollars.
This article examines in this article from the theoretical and conceptual point of view the processes that consume, in the form of productive factors, works of art, demonstrating that a theory based on solid theoretical principles, such as General Cost Theory, manages to harmonize The traditional concept of depreciation with the art market, the production that requires such factors, and the wear and tear of works when subjected to a productive process.