Defining the Creative Economy: Industry and Occupational Approaches

Ann Markusen, Gregory H. Wassall, Douglas DeNatale and Randy Cohen
Additional contact information
Ann Markusen: University of Minnesota
Gregory H. Wassall: Northeastern University
Douglas DeNatale: Community Logic, Inc.
Randy Cohen: Americans for the Arts

Economic Development Quarterly, 2008, vol. 22, issue 1, 24-45

Abstract: This article reviews conceptual and operational issues in defining the creative sector and its arts and cultural core. Some accounts use establishment data to measure creative industry employment, some use firm-level data, and others use occupational data. The authors examine how cultural-sector employment is conceptualized in three pioneering cultural economy studies driven by distinctive policy agendas and constituencies. Choices about which industries, firms, and occupations to include affect the resulting size and content of the cultural economy. In comparing these three studies and others, the authors show that the Boston metro's creative economy varies in size from less than 1% to 49%, although most cultural definitions range from 1% to 4%. The authors explore how policy makers might use a combination of methods to produce a richer characterization of the regional cultural economy and reflect on the relevance of good numbers to cultural policy and creative region formation.

Keywords: creative economy; cultural industries; occupations (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (24)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:ecdequ:v:22:y:2008:i:1:p:24-45

DOI: 10.1177/0891242407311862

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