The Analysis Of Chinese Performing Arts Organization's Economic Delimma

Performing art's cost disease,the monumental work of the Baumol and Bowen from their book—Performing Arts:the Economic Dilemma?a Study of Problems Common to Theater,Opera,Music and Dance,marks the beginning of western culture economics.It claims that the different productivity between art and manufacture sector with technology progress can lead to the inevitable increase of the income gap and artist deficits over time.Therefore,it seems to justify that the government should provide public subsidy to protect the performing arts,although there are some objections to Baumol's cost disease.It's a great pity that the research of Baumol's cost disease of performing art's is still at an initial stage,lacking systematic study work in China.The empirical tests reveal that Chinese performing arts are threatened by cost disease:the income gap has been increasing,the organizations rely more and more heavily on government subsidy,and the number of new works shows a decline trend.But the compare of productivity between performing arts and the secondary industry doesn't accord with the assumption of cost disease in which the performing arts is a lager sector,on the contrary,the productivity of performing arts is higher than the secondary industry in China.Not only the specialness of performing art—real-time performance,regional fixity,public good limited supply and volatile demand—but also the implication of nationalization history,the extra social responsibility for state-owned performing arts organization and the lack of donation culture in China result in its cost disease ineluctably.For the development of Chinese performing arts organization,on the one hand,the government should provide subsidy to help them,instead of just leaving them alone on market competition;on the other hand,the organization could improve their economic circumstance through economies of scale,economies of scope,marketing strategy and non-profit organization model to prevent themselves from going back to the old structure when the performing arts organization fed all on government.