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The Creative Industries and Urban Economic Growth in the UK

Author

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  • Neil Lee

    (Department of Geography and Environment, London School of Economics, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE, England)

Abstract

Policy makers in the UK see the creative industries as a key sector for regenerating inner cities and stimulating flagging urban economies. The creative industries may raise productivity through spillovers or as part of the production processes of other firms. Creative firms may squeeze out other, less productive sectors. Highly skilled workers may be attracted to creative cities. Or the creative industries may thrive in growing cities with strong demand for their products. This paper tests the link between the creative industries and wage and employment growth in a panel of travel-to-work areas from 2003 to 2008. The results suggest the creative industries drive both wage and employment growth in other sectors. However, when only urban areas are considered the creative industries drive wage growth but do not increase employment. These findings are consistent with the idea that the creative industries help other sectors grow, but may squeeze out declining industries from urban areas.

Suggested Citation

  • Neil Lee, 2014. "The Creative Industries and Urban Economic Growth in the UK," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 46(2), pages 455-470, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:46:y:2014:i:2:p:455-470
    DOI: 10.1068/a4472
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Marcos Valdivia & Ricardo Macip, 2018. "Production of New Creative Knowledge in a Local Developing Economy: The Case of Puerto Vallarta," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 109(2), pages 309-326, April.
    3. Coll-Martínez, Eva, 2019. "Creative industries and firm creation: disentangling causal effects through historical cultural associations," INVESTIGACIONES REGIONALES - Journal of REGIONAL RESEARCH, Asociación Española de Ciencia Regional, issue 43, pages 19-39.
    4. Ammar Malik & Andrew Crooks & Hilton Root & Melanie Swartz, 2015. "Exploring Creativity and Urban Development with Agent-Based Modeling," Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, vol. 18(2), pages 1-12.
    5. Andrés Rodríguez-Pose & Neil Lee, 2020. "Hipsters vs. Geeks? Creative workers, STEM and innovation in US cities," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 2021, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Apr 2020.
    6. Eva Coll-Martínez & Josep-Maria Arauzo-Carod, 2017. "Creative milieu and firm location: An empirical appraisal," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 49(7), pages 1613-1641, July.
    7. Gutierrez-Posada, Diana & Kitsos, Tasos & Nathan, Max & Nuccio, Massimiliano, 2021. "Do Creative Industries Generate Multiplier Effects? Evidence from UK Cities, 1997-2018," SocArXiv xs8zg, Center for Open Science.
    8. Neil Lee & Stephen Clarke, 2017. "Who gains from high-tech growth? High-technology multipliers, employment and wages in Britain," SPRU Working Paper Series 2017-14, SPRU - Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex Business School.
    9. Burlina, Chiara & Casadei, Patrizia & Crociata, Alessandro, 2023. "Economic complexity and firm performance in the cultural and creative sector: evidence from Italian provinces," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 116979, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    10. Iván Boal-San Miguel & Luis César Herrero-Prieto, 2020. "A Spatial–Temporal Analysis of Cultural and Creative Industries with Micro-Geographic Disaggregation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(16), pages 1-18, August.
    11. Neil Lee & Paul Sissons, 2016. "Inclusive growth? The relationship between economic growth and poverty in British cities," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 48(11), pages 2317-2339, November.
    12. Douglas S. Noonan & Shiri M. Breznitz & Sana Maqbool, 2021. "Flocking to the crowd: Cultural entrepreneur mobility guided by homophily, market size, or amenities?," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 45(4), pages 577-611, December.
    13. Goya, Daniel, 2022. "Marshallian and Jacobian Externalities in Creative Industries," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 11962, Inter-American Development Bank.
    14. Yuching Lee & Chingtun Peng & Taindow Lee & Zhengyuan Zhao, 2022. "Sustainable Development Assessment of Cultural and Creative Industries in Casino Cities: A Case Study of Macao," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-27, April.

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