MORE THAN A GOOD BOOK: CONTINGENT VALUATION OF PUBLIC LIBRARY SERVICES IN ENGLAND

By Daniel Fujiwara, Ricky N. Lawton and Susana Mourato

This is the first economic study to value the wide range of benefits to individuals and the community provided by libraries in England, combining two economic methods for valuing culture: contingent valuation and subjective wellbeing analysis. A primary survey of around 2,000 library users and non-users shows the combined annual value of local library services is £723.4million. Library use is also positively associated with subjective wellbeing, suggesting that libraries have an important role in users’ quality of life.

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December 10, 2019 0

AWFULLY BEAUTIFUL? I REALLY LIKE THIS ARTWORK, IF I AM NOT MISTAKEN

By Monika Kackovic

Information about the quality of producers and products has strategic value and affects economic decisions. But what happens in markets with informational gaps where quality is difficult to observe and where objective criteria to make quality judgments are largely lacking?

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November 21, 2017 0

FROM MORE TO BETTER: WHAT ART TEACHES US ABOUT QUALITY

By Erwin Dekker

Products are more and more differentiated, and qualitative differences between products are ever more important. What does that imply for the way we study markets? And do economists have anything to say about quality? They do, and it is the study of arts that have helped them do so.

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January 26, 2016 0