The Capital of Art

Patrick McCoy

The Capital of Art

Almost every day I hear the drone of aggravated people who claim that the “arts” have no real benefit for the American economy and that going to school to study in a more liberal environment and career field is wasteful. However, recent reports have shown that the music and film culture in the United States has significantly contributed to the economy. With our society becoming more and more intertwined and in tune with the world we live in, it is imperative that we recognize our domestic output capabilities for the international community.

The world absolutely loves American movies, because our massive budgets pump out big name films every year: the Hunger Games, Divergent, and Godzilla for example. All of these films dive head first into countries abroad and their consumers gladly spend their money to see them. The artistic movie and music industry has created a staggering 1 trillion dollar for the American GDP – the summation of national consumption, investment, government spending, and net exports. Essentially, the gross domestic product conveys a numerical value for a nation’s productivity in dollars. These benefits have actually trickled down to the workers within these industries as well; boosting their salaries 33% above the average American pay. This industry only seems to be growing as the world becomes richer, but these jobs must be protected in order for the output to continue producing at this impressive rate.

How does one measure the economic benefits of the creative community? Analysts have defined “arts and cultural output based on creative artistic activity and the goods and services produced by it or used to support it” as the optimal measurement for this industry’s output potential, much like calculating the national GDP. By calculating the revenue of this industry using these specific guidelines, economists are This is why the music industry is so asinine about millions of potential customers downloading music illegally which, as a result, forces live concert ticket prices to increase astronomically. If you truly support a particular artist or band, buy their music. You’ll be doing the economy a great service.

The only down side to the creative market is that there are a plethora of goods and services that have no durability, meaning that they’ll lose their value entirely in a short period of time. Examples of this phenomenon include columns, blogs, and magazines; all items that will have no true value to consumers unless they’re looked back upon as significant historical mementos. Because of this, most of these items are excluded from the revenue of this industry while calculating national GDP.

So, how exactly will this affect our economy down the road? If we continue to promote the arts, we could very well retain our dominance in the movie and artistic industry worldwide; which is why we cease belittling the efforts of those who wish to peruse such a career.