Concert fee determination: A game-theoretic approach

This thesis is in three parts. In the first, the cultural economics literature which concerns the labor market for musicians is reviewed and its major theoretical and empirical points are examined. The second part begins by briefly surveying the history and main topics in game theory, providing sufficient background for an understanding of the simplified Rubinstein-Stahl bargaining model, which is then described. The third part applies this model to the process by which concert fees are settled upon, and leads to a number of conclusions. Among these are that subjective discount rates reflect bargaining power in the situation described, and that these discount rates are affected by the notorieties of the parties involved.