Creative Economy: A Feasible Development Option

4Towards an evidence-based assessment of the creative economy■■■■■■■The main objectives of the CSA are to:Select the practices and products of the cultural sectorsand create definitions and classifications following theSNA concepts and framework;Define the mechanisms of generation and interchange ofthe cultural products and integrate this analysis into theexisting macroeconomic frameworks with no prejudice totheir specificities (e.g., not all cultural activities are registeredin production processes holding economic value);Demarcate the international trade flows affecting culturalproducts, given their potential impact not only on theeconomy but also on the preservation of cultural identities;Delimit the total cultural expenses by object, nature, beneficiary:goods and services directly benefiting households;consumption of assets such as the original artworks usedin production processes of cultural products; direct publicexpenses in cultural management, etc.;Explore the different funding processes of the culturalconsumption. The public funding, for instance, can takeplace through subsidies or transfers to activities developedby the private sector; via the direct production of goodsand services by government entities; by simply acquiringand donating cultural and creative assets for the good ofthe community, etc.;Offer pertinent information on the basic social characteristicsrelating to cultural production and its organization,following a producer-driven categorization by size, type,employment in the cultural field and its characteristics,etc.; andProvide information on the uses, consumption and indicators,enabling a categorization of offer and demand ofcultural products (non-monetary quantities and classificationby content), and relate them to the economic variablesof this framework.The CSA, besides providing monetary information onthe generation and use of cultural products and services, canoffer non-monetary data, such as the number of works producedor the number of people involved in a performance. Itencompasses social dimensions, disaggregating data by socialand educational levels. Indeed, the CSA does not offer anadditional set of information but a coherent framework forthe search for weaknesses and gaps in the existing informationsystems. Given that information normally comes fromdifferent sources and is presented in various ways, the CSAcan reconcile data, relate them to other economic sectors anddisaggregate them by geographic area. In short, the analysisof the CSA can also be of use to those conducting mappingexercises on the economic measurement of cultural activitiessince it presents a coherent set of concepts, definitions andcategories and reconciles different sources of statistics.This report acknowledges the quality work carried outby Convenio Andrés Bello, 6 which developed tools to assistits Latin American member countries to implement a CSAin the region, a process started in 2003. Colombia took thefirst steps to develop its satellite account, and the initialresults were published in 2007. Brazil and Chile have alsoundertaken preliminary measurements. MERCOSURCultural initiated an exercise for a regional economic measurementfor the generation of reliable, consistent and comparableinformation on issues relating to cultural economicsand the creative economy. Convenio Andrés Bello publisheda methodological manual in 2008, which was made availableto all countries in the region. The aim was to offer a methodologywith a rigorous technical background that is applicableand serves as an instrument for cultural policies.Nevertheless, despite of all this valuable work, worldwideadoption of the CSA may take a number of years sinceit is a long, expensive process. Many developing countries,particularly the least developed ones, will face enormoushuman and financial resource constraints as they seek to maptheir creative industries and then move on towards implementinga satellite account. It is precisely because of theseconstraints that the Creative Economy Reports have beenputting forward the UNCTAD model with a focus on trade.The main advantage is that trade statistics are already nationallyreported regularly worldwide, requiring only a marginaladditional cost to improve their level of disaggregation aswell as the quality and coverage of reporting procedures atthe national level. At this stage, this seems a more feasibleapproach, even if the two processes — the CSA and ourtrade-based model — are mutually supportive and can movein parallel in countries able to afford them.6 Convenio Andrés Bello is an international intergovernmental organization comprising Bolivia, Colombia, Chile, Cuba, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Spain andVenezuela. Its main objective is to integrate the educational, scientific and cultural fields in Latin America.102 CREATIVE ECONOMY REPORT 2010