Abstract

Measuring the economic value of creative industries is a difficult task. It entails taking stock of the proportion of Gross National Product directly generated by the industries together with their indirect economic impact on the rest of the economy. In this interview, Hasan Bakhshi of Nesta explains the main challenges facing economists and statisticians in addressing these issues and highlights the specific importance of having reliable and comparable estimates. Only a solid statistical ground will allow the creative industries to be 'taken seriously' by policymakers and academic researchers. This area of the economy has come a long way since the 1990s and Bakhshi provides guidelines for public sector authorities interested in further developing creative ecosystems.