The Economic Importance of Culture John Gordon Culture and Art-related Activities OECD Statistics Directorate

1.  The Economic Importance of Culture  John GordonCulture and Art-related Activities OECD Statistics Directorate Association for Cultural Economics International Vienna, July 8, 2006

2. 2 Culture Statistics at the OECD New special project Economic Importance of Culture Funded by a voluntary contribution from the Louise T. Blouin Foundation

3. 3 What is Culture? Anthropological Culture is learned as a child and as children we learned from those around us a particular set of rules, beliefs, priorities and expectations that moulded our world into a meaningful whole. That is culture. Ruth Benedict in Patterns of Culture

4. 4 A Holistic View of Culture

5. 5 Artistic Culture of Particular Interest Ability to Reflect Ability to Focus Ability to Look across time

6. 6 Breadth of Impact �The Impacts and significance of the arts and culture - as part of a continuum and ecosystem of creativity and innovation � are now widely understood to reach far beyond intrinsic values and touch on matters . . . such as social cohesion, economic innovation, regeneration, the creative and knowledge economy, inward investment strategies, tourism and quality of life.� International Intelligence on Culture & Cultural Capital Ltd. & Partners for Honk Kong Arts Development Council

7. 7 Economic Connections Direct GDP Contribution of Culture Industries and Culture Institutions Culture Tourism Visit to Vienna in order to attend Mozart Celebrations Culture Enhanced Tourism 62% of tourists to France chose France after seeing the country in a film Culture Influenced Decisions Choice of business location because of cultural amenities

8. 8 Does the Connection Go beyond Economics? A healthy GDP - requires � A productive workforce - which requires � A healthy social environment - which requires �

9. 9 A Healthy Society What is it ? Can we measure it ? Do we need decision-making models that go beyond classical economics ? Would the problems related Sustainable Development (for example) be less severe if a different decision model had been used ? Are other models available ? What would they look like ?

10. 10 Some Measures of Wellbeing Life expectancy Ratio of days of peace to days of conflict Suicide rates Social cohesiveness Health and vitality of arts & culture

11. 11 Potential Indicators Outputs / GDP / Jobs Balance-of-trade in culture products and services Diversity � in multiple dimensions Language fluency (official and other) Domestic creation and production Shelf space for domestic culture � access Local control of practices and policies Citizen participation in cultural activities Social Cohesion - Identity Balance � Society-wide composite indicator

12. 12 Quantitative Measures Define the scope of inclusion Clearly understood Standard classifications Sufficient level of detail Measurable Policy relevant Internationally comparable

13. 13 The Culture* Sector's Share Culture Contribution to GDP Australia 3.3% (1998) Canada 3.8% (2001) UK 5.0 � 7.8% (2003) Culture Portion of Labour Force Australia 4.8% (2001) Canada 3.7% (2002) France 3.4% (2002) UK 4.3 � 6.4% (2004)

14. 14 The Pesky * Classification Standards ISIC ACLC (ANZSIC) NAICS UK SIC NACE Even when separate classes exist, they not always in the same place in the structure e.g., Australia: Antique sales in with Museums Very often only part of a class is applicable

15. 15 The Pesky * (2) Some areas not always present Advertising Crafts Design Arts education Festivals Software, computer games Religion Sports Tourism

16. 16 What We Know So Far - Negative Culture not is well served by most existing standard classifications National Accounts often lack sufficient detail Significant secondary cultural activity � both industry and occupation Volunteer activity not captured Non-homogeneous activity and small isolated pockets require large samples/census

17. 17 What We Know So Far - Positive Considerable interest in many countries A growing number of national frameworks Broad agreement on major categories Some satellite accounts do exist Data/statistics are being produced OECD prepared to become a player

18. 18 What�s Still to Come More data extractions and �harmonisation� Occupation standards Product classifications Non-economic indicators People don't necessarily get involved with culture for economic reasons therefore we should not expect to get a full measure of a culture�s importance using economic indicators alone. International Workshop Paris: December 4-5, 2006

19. 19 Preliminary Themes Economic data/statistics, reliability, relevance to informing policy, comparability Problems with classification structures, lack of sufficient detail, impurities, allocation factors, satellite accounts. Social indicators of the health and vitality of the arts/culture sector. Measures of social cohesiveness, balance, . . .� Linkages: culture - wellbeing - environment - productivity -economy

20. 20 Thank You John Gordon Culture and Art-related Activities Statistics Directorate OECD Paris Tel: +33 (0)1 45 24 14 74 E-mail: John.Gordon@oecd.org Helen.Beilby-Orrin@oecd.org