The Strong, the Weak, the Law: a Cultural Exception to the Market Economy

In a market economy, companies whose expenses exceed income are doomed to disappear. Public authorities may however intervene through the production of legal norms in order to support certain economic activities. This is the case for performing arts (theatre, dance, opera, concert, and circus), which suffer from a lack of profitability, and depend therefore on external economic interventions. Public support mechanisms have been set up to support the performing arts. The mechanisms of funding can take either the form of direct state interventions (subsidies, social system favorable to workers in the entertainment industry, various aids) or of tax expenditures, by which the state aims to stimulate private investment and patronage, to encourage consumption, or to reduce the costs borne by cultural actors.

The present contribution focuses on the legal mechanisms (the Law) whose purpose is to protect unprofitable activities (the Weak) – in this case the performing arts – in a market economy (where only the Strong is supposed to prevail).