Baumol's cost disease : the arts and other victims

Baumol's cost disease is the inevitable escalation of the real costs that occur in labour-intensive industries like the arts and education. The labour costs in these industries tend to increase at the same rate as other industries, but their scope for utilizing labour-saving technical progress is either small or non-existent. Overview of Baumols work, examination of Baumol's work in the context of the development of the economics of the arts. Empirical papers on the arts and essays on policy implications. Theater, publishing, historical studies, implication of the cost disease for libraries and education.