Culture, Services and Regional Development

Household consumption patterns in the United States have undergone considerable restructuring in recent years, including a significant expansion of spending on goods and services related to culture, leisure, sports and the arts. This shift is related to rising real incomes, increases in leisure time, and demographic changes. Spending on related travel, lodging and food has resulted in even larger outlays related to culture, which now accounts for about 10 per cent of US employment. However, development of these sectors is often problematic from a regional development perspective. Employment in some cultural industries is bifurcated into a small population of highly paid professionals and a large cohort of part time or contract labour earning modest incomes. Income leakages are significant in some sectors, as are redistributions of income needed to finance operation and capital costs. Research is needed on many dimensions associated with the increasing importance of these activities, including their geography and the bases for the growing demand for these goods and services.