Quality attributes in the non-market stated-preference based valuation of cultural goods

Evidence-based policies require well-established research and reliable data. One of the major difficulties in delivering such data for cultural policies lies in measuring culture, expressing its ephemeral nature in numbers and indicators, as research used to do in other sectors. Stated-preference based non-market valuation is one of the few tools able to reveal the benefits that cultural goods deliver to the society for cost–benefit analysis. The prevalent problem in this kind of studies is poorly defined, ambiguous goods. When attempting to define them, we cannot forget that the essence of art and culture, which is in itself worth measuring, is quality. The goal of the article was to review previous uses of quality measurements of arts and culture in stated-preference based non-market valuation research, most of which are dedicated to performing arts and cultural heritage.