{"id":2191,"date":"2017-04-28T05:39:49","date_gmt":"2017-04-28T12:39:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/?p=2191"},"modified":"2017-04-28T05:39:49","modified_gmt":"2017-04-28T12:39:49","slug":"on-charging-admission-at-the-met","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2017\/04\/on-charging-admission-at-the-met\/","title":{"rendered":"On charging admission at the Met"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"i<\/a>The New York Times<\/em> reported<\/a> that the Metropolitan Museum of Art is looking at options to make its “suggested” entry fee into something a little stronger than a hint, at least for people who live outside the city or state. A few years ago Derek Thompson reported<\/a> that about six out of ten visitors do not pay the full suggested fee, and so the numbers at stake are large.<\/p>\n

What can we say about this? It’s a bit over the top to refer to charging those visitors who reside outside the local tax base that supports the museum, but not residents, as “xenophobia<\/a>“; many cities do this, and to my knowledge state higher education systems charging differential tuition fees to out-of-state students are not subject to the charge of xenophobia.<\/p>\n

But consider another aspect: why should visitors pay anything when the museum has such a large endowment, largely financed by the very rich. Why not let the 0.1% pay<\/a>? I wrote about this in a recent paper<\/a> of mine on museum pricing, and here’s what I had to say:<\/p>\n

…if a museum suddenly had a significant financial asset that it did not previously have, would moving to free admission be the best use of the returns from that asset? There are opportunity costs, in terms of other types of programming that could be financed from the asset sale, such as covering the costs of lending (or giving) works to smaller, poorer museums, programs for school children, creation of studio space and workshops, expanding paid internship programs, and so on. That some museums may be sitting on collections-in-storage [or endowments] that could be used as an asset to fund free admission does not in itself make free admission a sound use of funds.<\/p>\n

There is an interesting parallel with the case of wealthy universities. In what has become a very publicly contested election to Harvard University\u2019s Board of Overseers, one slate of candidates has taken the position that Harvard\u2019s endowment of over $36 billion generates so much revenue that there is no reason to charge tuition to any undergraduates (New York Times 2016; The Economist 2016). The arithmetic of Harvard\u2019s being able to afford free tuition is beyond dispute. Harvard, like most large American universities, already engages in significant variation in net tuition (tuition minus gift aid) at the individual student level (Waldfogel 2015), and the option of free tuition for all is \u201caffordable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Without wanting to overegg the analogy, the use of the financial returns from Harvard\u2019s endowment, like the returns to the endowment of a museum, comes with opportunity costs. It is not enough to say free tuition (or admission) is feasible given the wealth of the institution; we also must ask whether it is a prudent use of funds given the alternative possible uses.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So, yes, many large museums could<\/em> manage with free admission. But that’s a choice on the use of endowment proceeds with an opportunity cost. Is it the best use of those resources? Maybe it is, but consider the alternatives. I’m not sure the Met giving me free admission, when I’m perfectly willing to pay, is optimal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The New York Times reported that the Metropolitan Museum of Art is looking at options to make its “suggested” entry fee into something a little stronger than a hint, at least for people who live outside the city or state. A few years ago Derek Thompson reported that about six out of ten visitors do […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2192,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2191","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-issues","8":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/met.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3dIW5-zl","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":528,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2013\/03\/museums-are-not-expensive\/","url_meta":{"origin":2191,"position":0},"title":"Museums are not expensive","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"March 26, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art is being sued for strongly suggesting that its \"recommended\" donation for entry is in fact required of visitors. Associated Press reports: 'The museum was designed to be open to everyone, without regard to their financial circumstances,' said Arnold Weiss, one of two attorneys who\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"a bargain!","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/met-prices-300x199.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":424,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2013\/03\/why-does-the-indianapolis-museum-of-art-have-free-admission\/","url_meta":{"origin":2191,"position":1},"title":"Why does the Indianapolis Museum of Art have Free Admission?","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"March 4, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Preamble: I know what I don't know. Specifically, when looking at any arts organization and its menu of prices, I do not have insider knowledge of its current or potential audience, its donors, or its costs. So when I comment on the price structure of any specific museum or other\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"free love","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/ima-300x168.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2287,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2018\/01\/should-museums-have-free-admission\/","url_meta":{"origin":2191,"position":2},"title":"Should museums have free admission?","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"January 9, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"I won't link to all the stories on the Metropolitan Museum's new policy of charging out-of-state residents $25 for daily admission - if you're reading this you've seen them already. Here are few additional considerations: A common refrain is that the museum can \"afford\" to have free admission for all,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"I see an externality","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/crowded-museum-225x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2186,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2017\/04\/metrics-at-the-museum\/","url_meta":{"origin":2191,"position":3},"title":"Metrics at the museum","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"April 23, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The Washington Post's Philip Kennicott decided to try visiting the popular Kusama exhibit at the Hirshhorn not as a critic, with all its special viewing privileges, but as an ordinary member of the public. The crowds and the rush, as we might expect, reduced the quality of the experience. We\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"too many people pulled and pushed around","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/too-many-people.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/too-many-people.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/too-many-people.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/too-many-people.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":610,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2013\/04\/paywalls-at-newspapers-and-museums\/","url_meta":{"origin":2191,"position":4},"title":"Paywalls at Newspapers and Museums","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"April 5, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Felix Salmon investigates how newspaper paywalls are evolving: In the early days of paywalls, some content was free, while other content you needed to pay for; the meter, in theory, replaced that system with one where the determination as to whether an article was free or not was a function\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"is the meter running?","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/newspaper-250x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":363,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2013\/02\/museums-amusement-parks-and-cable-tv\/","url_meta":{"origin":2191,"position":5},"title":"Museums, Amusement Parks and Cable TV","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"February 24, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Should museums charge visitors according to the length of their visit? \u00a0In a recent paper Bruno Frey and Lasse Steiner argue they should. We pay per hour when we park our cars, so why not when we go to view art? This question came to mind during the recent flare\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"bundling\"","block_context":{"text":"bundling","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/tag\/bundling\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"\"Zero marginal cost, you say?\"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/Family_watching_television_1958-300x279.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2191"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2191\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2193,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2191\/revisions\/2193"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}