An Hedonic Analysis of American Collectable Comic-Book Prices

A well-documented instance of the establishment and evolution of a modern market is that of the American collectable comic-book market. The development of this can be reliably traced from inception to the present day. A sample of 1100 American collectable comic-books is subjected to an hedonic analysis to determine the relative contribution of pricing components (predictor variables) to the market price. Issues arising from the model's overall significance and predictive power are addressed in terms of provenance (path dependency of price). The history of the market is examined in terms of the dates by which predictive variables were introduced. The difficulty of obtaining a universal pricing rule is considered and conclusions are drawn regarding the form and value of such a rule.