2008-03-16

Cultural Heritage as economic driver in a post-industrial economy

Every time cultural heritage contributes to artistic, educational or social development, it is a source of value: esthetical value, experience value, existence value for which the production implies economic movement, and not to take this into consideration would lead to a lack of fundamental understanding.

When looking to set the value of cultural heritage objects we must make use of socioeconomic theory. Cultural heritage must be treated as a (consumable) good. Further, according to socio-economic theory, cultural heritage objects are COMMON GOODS. Common goods are characterised by being:

Non-exclusive: A good is non-exclusive when a user cannot technically be stopped from enjoying / consuming that good.

Non-rivalling: The enjoyment / consumption of the good for one user is not reduced by more persons enjoying it simultaneously.

Download: http://www.artsmanagement.net/downloads/nypan.pdf

Dr. T. Nypan, Directorate for Cultural Heritage, Norway