An investigation of gender effects in the secondary art market: a biased auction market?

This paper examines the influence of auction houses on gender effects in the secondary art market. Based on a data set of over 6,000 auction transactions at Christie’s in 2019, five statistical tests are conducted. The analysis leads to different findings regarding the auction house's pre-sale estimates and the final hammer prices: It shows that women achieve statistically significant higher hammer prices at auctions in comparison to their male counterparts. There are no statistically significant gender inequalities in the average pre-sale estimates, although works of art by female artists are underestimated much more frequently. Finally, there are large regional differences in terms of gender equality in pre- sale estimates and the proportion of transactions by female artists, which are not necessarily related to the UN gender-inequality index of the respective country. The results are embedded in the discussion between two theoretical streams, namely the demand theory and the supply theory. The propositions support the supply theory. They also serve as a starting point for future research on the underdeveloped issue of the influence of auction houses on gender inequalities in the secondary art market.