The inclusion of cultural goods and services into economic analysis: A methodological interpretation

Cultural goods and services are inputs to ‘produce’ the leisure commodity, which is called cultural experience in the household ‘production function’ framework. In economic thought, the origin of such modeling can be traced back to the role assigned to cultural goods and services in their contribution to a pleasant life, and to the inherent difficulty in two processes: the measurement of value and taste formation. Therefore, prestigious economists considered cultural goods to be of little interest. Also, such modeling is traced back in economic analysis to the discussion that incorporates leisure as object of analysis. This article contributes to the literature on cultural economics by integrating coherently and comprehensively economic thought with economic analysis in the particular case of cultural goods.