Statistics on Cultural Industries - International Trade Centre

COMPONENT B - MODULE 2–manufactured goods and classify, for example, crafts together with other manufacturingactivities (e.g. furniture or apparel)a large (undocumented) part of the economic activities undertaken in the manufacturingcultural industries are part of the non-formal economy.Though these challenges are often pronounced in relation to the crafts and heritage sub-sectors,they are basically common for most economic activities of the partial copyright industries. Themethodological difficulties in establishing cultural statistics that relate to this have made somecountries opt to exclude crafts from surveys of the cultural industries sector altogether. This solutionis, however, not valid for developing countries where crafts have relatively greater economicimportance and potential. Crafts use local, renewable resources and often contribute significantlyto the economies of developing countries. To give an example, a recent study by UNESCOestimates that in Thailand the crafts industry contributes USD$4.55 billion (almost 1 percent ofGross Domestic Product (GDP)) to the economy – an indication of the significant potential theseindustries have for income-generation, especially in low-income areas. The manufacturing or partial copyright industries are characterized by the degree to which designdetermines the quality and value of produced goods and services. Derived from evolving culturalknowledge and expressions of culture and heritage, the competitive edge or quality of designedproducts is linked to the innovative potential of a diversity of cultural expressions. In this respect,there is no fundamental difference between traditional arts and crafts and the more modernexpressions of design. Rather, they constitute of a continuum of products stretching from thetraditional to the modern.Crafts are obviously culturally significant and they add value to goods whose primary function is notaesthetic. They also draw on traditional cultural assets. It is interesting to note that the intangiblevalue of these goods are causing new specific intellectual property regimes and labeling tools tobe designed (such as “geographical indications”) which may eventually provide another means tomeasure the impact of these economic activities.Special ConsiderationsThe data collected are expected to be used to observe the relative position of the concernedindustries in the country’s manufacturing sector and inter-sub-national comparisons in, for instance,labour productivity, value-added/output ratio, wage rates and gender structure of employment.An analysis of this type will highlight sub-national disparities and yield a measure of the industries’potential to raise income levels in the areas with a high incidence of poverty.A particular aspect of this analysis relates to the fact that the craft and heritage industries to a greatextent are part of the non-formal sector and, as such, are largely undocumented – an issue whichis also dealt with as part of the data analysis in Module 3.With more accurate information on activities and resources in these industries, their potentialcould be more directly harnessed for poverty reduction and community vitalization.30. UNESCO, Crafts/Tourism Index Report, Paris, May 2004