Research and analysis

The economic value of culture: a benefit transfer study

Research to understand the visitor and non-visitor value of cultural engagement at 4 cultural institutions in England and to test whether economic values for cultural sites can be transferred to similar sites in England.

This was published under the 2016 to 2019 May Conservative government

Documents

Details

This research by Nesta and Simetrica uses economic valuation techniques to estimate visitor and non-visitor values at 4 cultural institutions in England and tests whether the values for these can be transferred to similar sites in England. The sites studied are regional museums. To estimate use and non-use values this research uses contingent valuation (CV) methodology.

The research collected valuation estimates from surveyed individuals who had visited at least one of the 4 museums in this study:

  • the World Museum in Liverpool
  • the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford
  • the National Railway Museum in York
  • the Great North Museum in Newcastle

Valuation estimates were also obtained from people who had not visited these sites. The research produces estimates of use and non-use value for the museums and supports the feasibility of benefits transfer of use and non-use values to comparable sites.

Updates to this page

Published 4 October 2018

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