How Modern Societies Maintain Cultural Values by Financing Cultural Goods

February, 2002

Can Contingent Valuation results substitute market results in the field of cultural policy? My answer is a clear "no". No, the data generated by contingent valuation surveys on the amount of dollars which citizens are willing to pay for cultural goods cannot be used to improve public policy. The theoretical reasoning for this answer takes its start with the nature of cultural values. It then examines the cultural events in which valuation takes place. Finally, the provision of the goods that make up cultural events is discussed. It is at that point that Contingent Valuation methods and their future use come into focus.

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