Friday’s Wall Street Journal offers an update on who is hot in the art market, classifying artists into buy, hold, and sell categories. The big winner? Cindy Sherman, art photographer. Why have her prices skyrocketed so much? First, the quality of the work is high. Second, she is a woman and museums feel the need to address the gender gap on their walls. Third, Sotheby’s and Christie’s now sell her under the “Contemporary Art” category, rather than “Photography.” This reclassification automatically boosts her prices.

Here is one of the classic Cindy Sherman images, but not all of them involve beautiful women.

Another big winner was Jeff Koons, former Wall Street commodities broker. Here are some typical Koons pieces, although his style is highly diverse, as NBA fans will attest. His prices have doubled in each of several recent years. Damien Hirst is on the upswing as well, so are some of the late Picassos. Among the classics there is also price strength with Cezanne, Gauguin, and Caillebotte.

Who is falling in price and due to fall more? Julian Schnabel. Some of the works are falling apart, and others are too big for collectors’ walls. Could you hang and maintain this one? Warhol has cooled off after a big run-up and it is opined that Basquiat (scroll down to the images) is due for a fall. Chagall painted too many mediocre pictures. Collectors are bored with Sisley and the sometimes fruity style of Renoir has fallen out of favor, despite its painterly virtues. This one will likely push you off the edge.

My take: The current generation of earners doesn’t care much about uniqueness or the original image. Younger collectors love to buy photographs, and don’t care if they don’t “own the original” or if that phrase has meaning at all. Many prefer that an exact copy of what is on their wall also hangs in the Museum of Modern Art. So look for photography, and painting/photography hybrids to continue their run-up.

I like to tease Robin Hanson that the painting market is a bit like terrorism futures. If you believe in a particular painter or style, you can put your money where your mouth is. The paintings market therefore might reflect new information might efficiently than does, say, the music market, where marketable investment assets are harder to come by. Of course that does not rule out the art market as a classic Keynesian “beauty contest,” in which everyone is guessing at the future opinions of everyone else, rather than at some objective facts.

Protests have been growing in Haiti, check out this link for some compelling visuals. It is becoming ever clearer than Aristide is simply another Haitian mafia. Our previous support for him represents one of the more gullible episodes in American foreign policy. Most Haitians are turning against him as well, most of all because living standards have continued to deteriorate.

How might Haiti recover? It is hard to see a case for optimism. In many ways the country was richer in 1840 than it was today. One huge problem has been unchecked environmental degradation, brought on by poorly-defined property rights and a tragedy of the commons. The destruction of trees and the erosion of soil are continuing unchecked. Haitians commonly cut down trees for firewood but the collective impact of this practice has taken the life out of the soil. The country, which already is a net importer of food, is on the verge of not being able to feed itself at all. It will struggle to maintain its current per capita income of $400, noting that some estimates run closer to $250. Many Haitians are now asking for reparations.

Add on a totally corrupt port, dishonest politicians, no good roads, hardly any infrastructure, the Duvaliers’ destruction of intermediate civil society institutions, a rampant brain drain, few protections for foreign investors, and the complete absence of rule of law, and you have some real problems. The question is not so much how to improve policy, since policy does not reach most Haitians. Previous policies have destroyed so much value that it would be hard to find an institutional framework for current reforms, if Haiti’s politicians were ever so inclined. Most Haitians live in something approximating the state of nature. They are ruled, if that word can be used, by local mafias rather than by the national government.

By the way, did I mention that 85 percent of the population is illiterate and 99.9 percent carry malaria?

Public safety is breaking down as well. I used to visit yearly, but the number of carjackings, many carried out in broad daylight, have scared me off for the time being.

As Daniel Drezner would say, “Continuing…”