Prior to the inception of Kusin & Company, comprehensive economic, financial, and
market data for the global art economy were hardly available. Although routinely provided
for all other developed economic sectors - in most cases for many years by such firms as
Reuters, Bloomberg, Thomson, and the Riskmetrics Group - no effort to harness conventional
economic and statistical methods for the highly specialized art economy had ever been initiated.
As a result, the art economy had come to be characterized by fundamental inefficiencies,
including widespread illiquidity and severe asymmetries of information.
European governments and the European Union, ignoring independent research, some of
which they sponsored themselves, took positions, sponsored legislation, and created regulations
that began to drive away much of the art trade.
Banks and other intermediaries, in the absence of the typical
information they require for lending, provided in the standard nomenclature of banking and
finance, often failed to extend even the most routine liquidity for many credit worthy
participants in the sector. As a result, sector participants - ranging from dealers to trusts
and estates containing important collections - often had to liquidate holdings rapidly,
regardless of market conditions.
To supply critical information, and also to meet the business intelligence needs of direct
market participants, financial intermediaries, and governments, Kusin & Company
developed the Kusin Classification Code, comprehensive standard asset nomenclature
instituted regular cycles of comprehensive field research and polling to
measure and analyze the dealer and auctioneer sales channels
created standard economic, financial, and statistical frameworks - both
microeconomic and macroeconomic - to quantify and analyze market performance
independently and define and manage financial risks unique to the sector
Kusin and Company
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