_The Creative Wealth of Nations_

# vi. Other Areas of Note:

_Google, Radio and Streaming Platforms, Firms and Organizations_ Google, UN Global Pulse, radio stations (including digital platforms like Pandora) music and streaming platforms (like Spotify) provide another approach for which data on the creative arts could be gathered. Agencies like the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC); Universal Music Group (UMG); PricewaterhouseCoopers; the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI); MIDiA Consulting; and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) could also be useful in collecting and aggregating data on the performing arts industry globally.

There are a number of regional arts organizations serving as royalty collection agencies, supporters or conveners of local talent. These organizations could also be helpful in collecting data on income, commercial and social activities related to the performing artists. Many of them are scattered here and there. Here is a sample: the Association of Asian Performing Arts Festivals (AAPAF); the Association of Caribbean Copyright Societies (ACCS); the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP); the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture (AFAC); the Arterial Network; the Pacific Arts Association (PAA); the New Zealand International Arts Festival (NZIAF); Southern African Music Rights Organization (SAMRO); World Culture Festival (WCF); and so on. It should also be noted that in some countries, places of worship (like churches) and educational institutions have a number of artistic activities going on. The question is whether the quest for data should include these institutions.

# _A Caveat_

But when all is said and done, there is a reason why this quote hung in Einstein’s office at Princeton. It invokes scrutiny:

- Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts.

Furthermore, Wassily Leontief notes: The structure and the operation of the entire national economy is typically described by a relatively small number of aggregative variables (and a correspondingly small number of indirectly estimated, aggregative structural parameters). Actual measurements of such variables as consumers’ and producers’ goods, that is, the computation of appropriate aggregative index numbers, is usually delegated to hard working economic statisticians.

It is a rather thankless task. The long history of search for an ideal index number formula has only demonstrated that aggregation is inevitably bound to yield a blurred picture of observable reality. It also frequently conceals the lack of detailed factual information. ...

... Modern social and economic statistics fall very short of what would be needed to implement a realistic, working model of a complex modern economy.<sup>209</sup>

# **6) On Nation Branding**

The issue of nation branding (or country image) rarely shows up in development policy. So it is no surprise that it is not considered in the new strategy of the WBG’s development framework.

> 209 Wassily Leontief, “The Present State of Economic Science” in _Adam Smith's Legacy: His Place in the Development of Modern Economics,_ ed. Michael Fry (London and New York: Routledge, 1992), 144-45.

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