Theoretical regulations and institutional features of financing arts

Abstract

The authors have analyzed organizations of the performing arts sector, one of the classic key benefits in the economy. The empirical research has been based on the economic pattern of "cost disease". A unique statistical database has been compiled on the basis of the information database of the Federal State Statistics Service and the Ministry of culture of the Russian Federation. The research presents the Baumol's indices calculations updated in 2001-2015. There have been confirmed such symptoms of Baumol's cost disease as: Labor productivity in cultural organizations lagging behind the average regional rate, super-inflationary growth for ticket prices in theaters, and catch-up wage growth in the theater in relation to the average wage level in the region. The author's approach to the analysis of the Baumol's cost disease is a modification of the overall Baumol index as a replacement for the income deficit indicator for the share of expenses covered by budget funds. New results have been obtained for estimating the income deficit and the share of expenditures covered by public funding by using the panel data model and quantile regression. The practical value of this research is the systematization of budgetary and extra-budgetary support for cultural organizations. New institutions of financial support such as the institute of participatory budgeting and the institution of individual budget allocations have been suggested to create favorable environment for the development of cultural organizations.