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Societal impact of culture in European regions

(1) Pau Rausell Köster (ORCID), (1) Jordi Sanjuán Belda (ORCID)


(1) Unidad de Investigación Econcult. Dpto Economía Aplicada. Universitat de València



The notion that culture plays a central role in development processes is increasingly accepted, both in academic circles and by public administrations and supranational institutions, with the European Union being particularly notable. From the realm of knowledge and research, there is a growing body of robust evidence establishing causal links between culture, creativity, and multiple impacts on social and economic variables. This paper synthesises the primary findings of a study that employs novel and intricate causal machine learning techniques to analyse the impacts of cultural and creative sectors on various dimensions of well-being in European regions, including income, employment, education, health, and sense of community, among others.

The results affirm that, in European OECD regions, the effects are positive across most dimensions for a majority of regions. This underscores the potential of culture and creativity to catalyse regional development processes and enhance the well-being of European citizens.


Key words: Cultural and creative sectors, social impacts, well-being, regional development


Cite this article: Rausell-Köster, P., & Sanjuán, J. (2023). Societal impact of culture in European regions. In Radical Creativities (pp. 32–43). KEA. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14017605




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