📢 iCEBDA Econometric seminar

Join us on July 13, 2026 at 12:00 noon (Moscow time, online via Zoom) for a research seminar by

🎓 M. Dorfman

Talk: "Emotional Safe Havens Through Color: How Palette Characteristics Shape Art Market Prices in Times of Crisis"

This study examines whether color pricing in the art market shifts during crises and whether such shifts reflect financial or psychological distress. Using auction data on abstract paintings (2005–2023), the author finds that mean saturation carries an ~8.5% premium during COVID-19 — but not during the 2008 financial crisis. The premium moves with household confidence, not market volatility, pointing to an affective mechanism. A randomized experiment confirms the channel: induced anxiety raises willingness to pay for saturated works by 0.56 standard deviations, partially mediated through pleasure ratings. In crises with sustained psychological distress, color's affective properties become an autonomous source of aesthetic value.

🔗 Register here: https://economics.hse.ru/bigdata/seminars