This debate between Polly Mackenzie and Tim Leunig got me thinking about whether we are using the right approaches to measure the value of creative arts programmes.
I’m not making an argument whether assessing the financial value of creative programmes is in itself too narrow. Personally, I believe that there is value in training people in the skills to produce arts, media, fashion, and run the museums and galleries in which the works that make life worth living can be stored and enjoyed. But as well as being a higher education fan I am an English graduate and sometimes arts consultant, so it is entirely predictable that I believe these things.
Instead, I’m interested in whether the economic measures we use to evaluate creative programmes are too narrow on their own terms.
Back in 2020 the IFS produced a report on private and taxpayer financial returns split by different kinds of degrees.
