Towards a Valid Measure of the Economic Value of Museum Experiences: An Example from Finland

John H. Falk (), Nicole Claudio, Mikko Myllykoski, Sauli Seppälä, Pauli Sivonen and Jonna Tamminen
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John H. Falk: Institute for Learning Innovation
Nicole Claudio: Institute for Learning Innovation
Mikko Myllykoski: Heureka
Sauli Seppälä: Helsinki City Museum
Pauli Sivonen: Serlachius Art Museum
Jonna Tamminen: Mayor’s Office

Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, 2025, vol. 177, issue 2, No 4, 533-556

Abstract: Abstract This article describes an effort to calculate the public and economic value of museum experiences. A significant feature of the research was its use of outcome metrics grounded in decades of visitor research on the perceived value of visiting a museum. The article lays out the underlying theoretical approach and presents data from a year-long study of visitors to eight Finnish museums. Results showed that museum users perceived that their visit experience resulted in enhanced, durable feelings of personal, social and physical well-being, with valuations of the economic benefits of these enhanced feelings of well-being in the range of €204–€641/visit. As was the case of the eight museums in the study, most museums annually serve tens to hundreds of thousands of visitors, thus annually individual museums create on the order of tens of millions of Euros of value for their communities and collectively provide value in the billions of Euros. The findings from this research make it possible for museums to make a more valid and credible case for the significant value they create and for the vital role they play in supporting the public’s well-being.

Keywords: Museum; Economic value; Well-being; Social value (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1007/s11205-025-03518-9

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