Made public on Wednesday February 16, a note from the Economic Analysis Council (CAE) dissects the way in which the crisis due to Covid-19 has weakened the world of culture, and how the arrival of digital technology is transforming it. Its authors – Olivier Alexandre, research fellow at the CNRS, Yann Algan, professor of economics at HEC, and Françoise Benhamou, professor at Sorbonne Paris Nord and co-president of the Circle of economists – suggest three main directions for reforming cultural policies. They propose a recovery plan that will rebalance public support throughout the territory and call for the deployment of a real digital strategy as well as “strengthening the public service of culture”.
They start from a first, pleasing observation, according to which “the crisis has highlighted the strong attachment of the French to cultural practices and places”. In a focus entitled “Culture, well-being and territories”, also published on Wednesday, three of their fellow members of the CAE – Jean Beuve, Madeleine Péron and César Poux – have also demonstrated that places of culture participate in the dynamism of territories and ” [contribuaient] positively to the well-being of individuals”. Declare having “at least one cultural practice is associated with declared satisfaction equivalent to an increase in household disposable income of 1% (420 euros per year)”, they claim. This rate even rises to 1.65% for regular cultural practices.
Mr. Alexandre, Mr. Algan and Mr.me Benhamou examined the impact of the pandemic on culture, which in 2019 represented 49.2 billion euros, or 2.3% of the entire economy. Along with aerospace and tourism, it has been the hardest hit sector. The fall in turnover in 2020 reached 16%, with huge disparities between cinema and live performance, the most affected (between – 65% and – 43%), and publishing or video games, which did not suffer, quite the contrary (+3% to +21%).
“paradigm shift”
In its note, the CAE stresses “efficiency” assistive devices – “without comparison in Europe” –, which have made it possible to save jobs and minimize cessations of activity, but deplores, like the Court of Auditors, “poor legibility of the support systems”. He notes, however, that the “very small businesses in the cultural sector have been more affected than those in the rest of the economy”.
The crisis has also accelerated “a paradigm shift”, moving from a logic of scarcity, typical of the 1950s, to a logic of abundance. The development of digital technology has resulted in lower production and distribution costs, and increased competition.
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