The $12 Million Stuffed Shark

A New York investment banker paid $12 million for the decaying, stuffed carcass of a shark. What makes this object valuable—and worth more than a billion dollars in 2006 alone? Why were record prices achieved at auction for works by 131 contemporary artists in 2006 alone, with astonishing new heights reached in 2007? Intriguing and entertaining, The $12 Million Stuffed Shark is a Freakonomic's approach to the economics and psychology of the contemporary art world. This book explores the money, lust, and self-aggrandizement of the art world in an attempt to determine what makes a particular work valuable—while others are ignored.