Culture Statistics at the OECD

1. The Economic Importance of CultureJohn GordonCulture and Art-related ActivitiesOECD Statistics DirectorateAssociation for Cultural Economics InternationalVienna, July 8, 2006

2. Culture Statistics at the OECD • New special project • Economic Importance of Culture • Funded by a voluntary contribution from the Louise T. Blouin Foundation

3. What is Culture? • Anthropological Culture is learned as a child and as children we learned from those around us a particular set of rules, beliefs, priorities and expectations that moulded our world into a meaningful whole. That is culture. Ruth Benedict in Patterns of Culture

4. A Holistic View of Culture Source: D. Paul Schafer: Revolution or Renaissance

5. Artistic Culture of Particular Interest • Ability to Reflect • Ability to Focus • Ability to Look across time

6. Breadth of Impact “The Impacts and significance of the arts and culture - as part of a continuum and ecosystem of creativity and innovation – are now widely understood to reach far beyond intrinsic values and touch on matters . . . such as social cohesion, economic innovation, regeneration, the creative and knowledge economy, inward investment strategies, tourism and quality of life.” International Intelligence on Culture & Cultural Capital Ltd. & Partners for Honk Kong Arts Development Council

7. Economic Connections • Direct GDP Contribution of Culture Industries and Culture Institutions • Culture Tourism • Visit to Vienna in order to attend Mozart Celebrations • Culture Enhanced Tourism • 62% of tourists to France chose France after seeing the country in a film • Culture Influenced Decisions • Choice of business location because of cultural amenities

8. Does the Connection Go beyond Economics? • A healthy GDP - requires – • A productive workforce - which requires – • A healthy social environment - which requires –

9. A Healthy Society • What is it ? • Can we measure it ? • Do we need decision-making models that go beyond classical economics ? • Would the problems related Sustainable Development (for example) be less severe if a different decision model had been used ? • Are other models available ? • What would they look like ?

10. Some Measures of Wellbeing • Life expectancy • Ratio of days of peace to days of conflict • Suicide rates • Social cohesiveness • Health and vitality of arts & culture

11. Potential Indicators • Outputs / GDP / Jobs • Balance-of-trade in culture products and services • Diversity – in multiple dimensions • Language fluency (official and other) • Domestic creation and production • Shelf space for domestic culture – access • Local control of practices and policies • Citizen participation in cultural activities • Social Cohesion - Identity • Balance – Society-wide composite indicator

12. Quantitative Measures • Define the scope of inclusion • Clearly understood • Standard classifications • Sufficient level of detail • Measurable • Policy relevant • Internationally comparable

13. The Culture* Sector's Share • Culture Contribution to GDP • Australia 3.3% (1998) • Canada 3.8% (2001) • UK 5.0 – 7.8% (2003) • Culture Portion of Labour Force • Australia 4.8% (2001) • Canada 3.7% (2002) • France 3.4% (2002) • UK 4.3 – 6.4% (2004)

14. The Pesky * • Classification Standards • ISIC • ACLC (ANZSIC) • NAICS • UK SIC • NACE • Even when separate classes exist, they not always in the same place in the structure e.g., Australia: Antique sales in with Museums • Very often only part of a class is applicable

15. The Pesky * (2) • Some areas not always present • Advertising • Crafts • Design • Arts education • Festivals • Software, computer games • Religion • Sports • Tourism

16. What We Know So Far - Negative • Culture not is well served by most existing standard classifications • National Accounts often lack sufficient detail • Significant secondary cultural activity – both industry and occupation • Volunteer activity not captured • Non-homogeneous activity and small isolated pockets require large samples/census

17. What We Know So Far - Positive • Considerable interest in many countries • A growing number of national frameworks • Broad agreement on major categories • Some satellite accounts do exist • Data/statistics are being produced • OECD prepared to become a player

18. What’s Still to Come • More data extractions and “harmonisation” • Occupation standards • Product classifications • Non-economic indicators People don't necessarily get involved with culture for economic reasons therefore we should not expect to get a full measure of a culture’s importance using economic indicators alone. • International Workshop Paris: December 4-5, 2006

19. Preliminary Themes • Economic data/statistics, reliability, relevance to informing policy, comparability • Problems with classification structures, lack of sufficient detail, impurities, allocation factors, satellite accounts. • Social indicators of the health and vitality of the arts/culture sector. Measures of social cohesiveness, balance, . . .  • Linkages: culture - wellbeing - environment - productivity -economy

20. Thank You John Gordon Culture and Art-related Activities Statistics Directorate OECD Paris Tel: +33 (0)1 45 24 14 74 E-mail: John.Gordon@oecd.org Helen.Beilby-Orrin@oecd.org