The opportunity cost of being an artist reaches 30%

Via MarginalRevolution:

This paper estimates the "compensating differentials" of Chapter 9 for artists.

I define artists as: (a) art directors, craft artists, fine artists, special effects artists, and related (SOC 27-101), (b) actors, producers, directors (SOC 27-201), (c) dancers and choreographers (SOC 27-203), (d) musicians, singers, and related (SOC 27-204), and (e) entertainers, performers, and related (SOC 27-209).

The compensating differentials are negative (you earn less if you work as an artist) 

1. First, I find a large decline in the relative earnings of artists to non-artists ... from a 15% earnings disadvantage to 30%. ...
2. Second, these differences decline to 4.4%, but remain statistically significant, even after comparing artists with media, entertainment, and sports workers in the same industry and year. [In other words, it is not just that artists choose to work in industries with less pay, they also earn less than non-artists in the same industry.]
3. Third, workers with an arts degree, but who do not work as artists, incur an additional earnings penalty.  [Even if you don't work as an artists, getting an arts degree is associated with lower earnings.  This is NOT causal, i.e., getting an arts degree does not make you poorer.  Rather it is an somehow correlated with lower income.]