Richard E. Caves

Richard Earl Caves (November 1, 1931 – November 22, 2019) was an American economist and professor of economics at Harvard University. He is known for his work on multinational corporations, industrial organization and the creative industries. He is known within the film economics field as the author of a definitive book on the organization of creative industries.

Education and career Caves obtained his B.A. in economics at Oberlin College in 1953. He continued his studies at Harvard University, where he obtained his M.A. in economics in 1956, and his Ph.D. in 1958.

In 1957, Caves embarked on his academic career in the Department of Economics, chaired by Joe S. Bain, at the University of California, Berkeley. In 1962, he moved back to Harvard University, where he was appointed Professor of Economics and lectured in industrial organization and international trade. However his approach was strictly that of an economist, as he theorised that the organization and practices of all creative industries could be analysed according to seven "economic properties". These were: (1) time flies, the fact that all creative work is subject to tight deadlines and has to be completed by a particular date; (2) infinite variety, meaning that no two creative products are the same and, as a result, cannot be standardised; (3) nobody knows, referring to the vagaries of an uncertain market where success or failure of a creative product cannot be determined in advance; (4) A list / B list, a ranking of both organisations and individual personnel as a means to combat market uncertainties through recognised talent; (5) motley crew, whereby all creative products, to a greater or lesser extent, rely on cooperation among different personnel with different skill sets; (6) art for art's sake, meaning that creative products differ from other mass-produced commodities because they rely on aesthetic or artistic inputs; and (7) ars longa, referring to the cumulation of copyrights by film studios, publishing houses, and other creative industry organisations.

Over the years since its publication, the attention paid to Caves's work on creative industries has borne out the early comment by sociologist Paul DiMaggio that his book "promises to be a much-needed touchstone for work in cultural economics, the sociology of art and culture, and the interdisciplinary field of arts and cultural policy analysis." Scholars in economic geography, political science, anthropology, and cultural studies have all taken Caves's work as their starting point in their own analyses of different forms of creative industries – primarily in the United States and Europe, but also in the Asian region (in particular, perhaps, Japan ).

Awards and Prizes Wells Prize, Harvard University, 1957–8 Ford Foundation Faculty Research Fellowship, 1959–60 Gerard C. Henderson Prize, Harvard Law School, 1966 Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1968 Galbraith Prize, 1976, 1981 Kenan Enterprise Award, 1990 Doctor of Economic Science, University of London, 1999 Eminent Scholar, Academy of International Business, 1999 Distinguished Scholar Award, Academy of International Business, 1998 Doctor of Economic Science, University of London, 1999 Distinguished Fellow, Industrial Organization Society, 2001.

Selected publications Caves, Richard E. Multinational enterprise and economic analysis. Cambridge University Press, 1996. Caves, Richard E. Creative industries: Contracts between art and commerce. Harvard University Press, 2000.

Articles, a selection: Caves, Richard E. "International corporations: The industrial economics of foreign investment." Economica (1971): 1-27. Caves, Richard E. "Multinational firms, competition, and productivity in host-country markets." Economica (1974): 176–193. Caves, Richard E., and Michael E. Porter. "From entry barriers to mobility barriers: Conjectural decisions and contrived deterrence to new competition." The Quarterly Journal of Economics (1977): 241–261. Caves, Richard E. "Industrial organization and new findings on the turnover and mobility of firms." Journal of economic literature (1998): 1947–1982.