Creative Economy: A Feasible Development Option

1Concept and context of the creative economygrowth of 6.7 per cent. The creation and production phasesrepresents 55 per cent of total cultural activities. 54For Italy, as stated by the President of the ItalianRepublic, “one of the strengths of our country [is] the cultureof creativity. And in this new expression of Italian creativitywe find the resurgent vigour of a tradition, heritageand sensibility to which we must devote much more attention”.55 The cultural and creative industries accounted forover 9 per cent of the Italian GDP and employed over 2.5million people in 2004. 56 Denmark is another examplewhere the creative economy accounted for 5.3 per cent ofGDP, providing 12 per cent of total jobs and 16 per cent ofexports, and in Sweden, in the early 2000s the cultural sectoraccounted for 9 per cent of value added and 10 per centof total employment, as show in table 1.7. 57 For theNetherlands, the creative sector is characterised by anincreasing number of small enterprises and freelancers; inthe city of Amsterdam during the period 2006-2009, thenumber of people working in the creative industriesincreased 6.6 per cent. 58The creative industries contribute to output, valueadded, income and the balance of payments. Typically, theseindustries have contributed somewhere between 2 and 6 percent of GDP, depending on the definitions used. In 2007,the creative industries accounted for 6.4 per cent of the U.S.economy, generating foreign sales and exports in the orderof $125.6 billion, one of the larger exporting sectors in theAmerican economy. 59 In Canada, the cultural sector provided3.5 per cent of GDP and almost 6 per cent of thegrowth in value added (GVA). In Australia, the growth inthe creative economy has been strong for nearly two decades,with an annual average growth of 5.8 per cent. In 2007-2008 the Australian creative economy was worth $31billion (Australian dollars), making a real contribution tothe nation’s economic performance and flexibility, employingabout 5 per cent of the workforce, and generating about7 per cent of national earnings. 60This chapter has been concerned primarily with theevolution of concepts involved in any consideration of thecreative economy. This final section turns from concepts topractice and considers some more detailed empirical evidencefor some of the propositions discussed earlier.Some representative data are shown in tables 1.6 to1.8. Table 1.6 shows the contribution of the cultural industriesto GDP or GVA for five countries in various years.Table 1.7 indicates the contribution of the cultural sectorsof eight European countries to the economy. It should benoted that in four of the eight countries shown, the creativeindustries contributed more than 5 per cent of GVA, and intwo countries, they contributed 10 per cent or more ofemployment. Comparisons with other sectors of theeconomies of developed countries are shown in table 1.8and table 1.9.Table 1.6Contribution of the cultural industries (a) to GDP or GVA for five countries, various years (b)CountryReference yearCurrencyAggregate measuredContribution of cultural industriesValue (millions) % of GDP/GVAAustraliaCanadaFranceUnited KingdomUnited States1998–992002200320032002$A$Can€£$USGDPGDPGVAGVAGVA17,05337,46539,89942,180341,1393.13.52.85.83.3Notes: (a) Industries included: Advertising; architecture; video, film, photography; music, visual arts, performing arts; publishing, print media; broadcast media; art and antiquestrade; design, including fashion design.(b) For qualifications to the interpretation of these data, refer to source.Source: Gordon and Beilby-Orrin, International Measurement of the Economic and Social Importance of Culture, OECD (2007:54).54 Ministry of Culture of Spain (2009).55 Giorgio Napolitano, 31 December 2007, quoted in Santagata (2009).56 Santagata (2009).57 On the basis of Eurostat and AMADEUS databank, as reported by KEA, European Affairs in 2006.58 Monitor Creative Industries (2008).59 Siwek (2009).60 ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation (2010).30 CREATIVE ECONOMY REPORT 2010