An article by British economist John Kay might just surprise you.

Kay’s article, “A Good Economist Knows the True Value of Arts” was published in London’s Financial Times August 11, 2010. In it, he analyzes what he sees as the fallacy of the way in which most economic studies quantify the value of sports, tourism and the arts. He states, “[…] the value of an activity is not what it costs, but the amount by which its benefit exceeds its costs….the economic value of the arts is in the commercial and cultural value of the performance, not the costs of cleaning the theatre.” (more…)