Review by Andrew Feist of the book Cultural Economics and Cultural Policies [Dordrecht: Luwer Academic Publishers, 1994, 184 p.]

The last thirty years have been something of a revolution in the applications of economic analysis to the arts and culture and in many ways. Cultural Economics and Cultural Policies is a testament to the development of this particular branch of applied economics. The publication consists of an edited collection of papers by some thirteen authors delivered at a conference held at Taormina, Sicily. The editors are explicit in what they consider to be the main purpose of this collection of papers: to help bring about a constructive dialogue between policy makers and funding bodies on the one hand, and economics on the other. No small ambition, particularly in the past, those exchanges that have taken place have tended to be a little strained; the editors point out that arts funding bodies looking for economists as advocates are likely to be disappointed. In a way this is straying from the point; as Ruth Towse states in her contribution to this collection, where economists come into their own is in analyzing the means to achieve any given set of policy objectives.