Cultural Economics

Economics is a social science that attempts to understand the actions of individuals and the institutions that they create. Of course, individuals are members of society. In fact, most individuals identify closely with only one or, at most, a very few cultures, each of which has its own cultural heritage. In recent years, the economics profession has begun to recognize the importance of culture to the individual and has evolved a rapidly expanding subdiscipline of Cultural Economics that focuses exclusively on the analysis of cultural activities as integral workings of the overall economy. Cultural Economics is intended to provide and in-depth introduction to the economist's perspective on the consumption, valuation, and perpetuation of a society's cultural heritage.