"This paper sets out to challenge the dominant narrative of the creative economy as a new option for developing countries. The much-vaunted growth rates proclaimed by UNCTAD’s Creative Economy Programme have slowed, and are seen to apply to a particular kind of manufactured good, as well as being ... overwhelmingly dominated by Asia, and especially China. This paper tries to unpick the dominant creative economy model of entrepreneurship, creative human capital and open market opportunity and suggests that – other than in East Asia – it is business as usual for the Global North. The creative economy not only fails to deliver its promise of development but has profound consequences for local cultures, caught up in an ever more global web of exploitation driven by the new digital platforms. We need to return to the earlier concerns of ‘culture and development’ now fully aware of the downsides, as well as the potential, of cultural economies in an uncertain global landscape." (Page 1) more

"This report created by Justin O'Connor, Professor of the Creative Industries Faculty, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia, ... gives a thorough overview of literature that deals with the relationship between culture and economics that lie at the heart of this terminology. This account takes a sixty-year trip, starting from the culture industry, leading through the cultural industries, and ending at the creative industries. It explores the history of the idea of the cultural industries, and how it has changed and developed the current interest in the creative economy. The work focuses on the conceptual ideas behind thinking in this area, and lays out the reasons behind the shifts in terminology and policy. The second edition of the report presents some additional reflections on the implications of the internet and the mobile communication technologies on the creative industries." (www.culturelink.org, September 27, 2011) more