About the ACEI

The Association’s Humble Beginnings

The humble beginnings of the association date back to the 1970s when Professor William Hendon, along with James Shanahan and colleagues from the University of Akron, Ohio, formed the Association for Cultural Economics (ACE). In 1977, Prof. Hendon created the Journal of Cultural Economics (JCE), which he edited himself and produced entirely from a single printing press. The newly formed ACE and JCE quickly captured the interest of prominent economists, including Mark Blaug, William Baumol, and Sir Alan Peacock. The invaluable contributions made by these economists (and many others) to the ACE and the Journal of Cultural Economics laid the foundations for the field of cultural economics, as it is known today.

In 1979, Sir Alan Peacock organized the ACE’s first international conference of cultural economics in Edinburgh, Scotland. The conference was a great success and served to establish the ACE as a scholarly society in the academic world. Following this initial debut, the ACE held further conferences in collaboration with host organizations around the world.

Igniting International Scholarly Discourse

These conferences, sponsored by the ACE sparked global discussion and scholarly investigation into the integral role of the arts in economic development. Slowly, over time, the focus of discussion at these conferences, naturally evolved towards data-based analysis of the arts and culture, which gave rise to the development of various econometric modelling techniques as well as alternative methods for quantifying the true value of creative arts, heritage, and culture.

Growth and Transformation of the Association and its Journal

By the early 90s, ACE membership had expanded considerably, and the Journal of Cultural Economics similarly had begun to achieve greater recognition within the academic community. These achievements prompted great changes for both. Influential members of the ACE, including David Throsby, Ruth Towse, Mark Schuster and Dick Netzer, worked diligently to both develop an official constitution for the ACE as well as establish a formal editorial board for the Journal of Cultural Economics. By 1992, their efforts had paid off and the ACE was now governed by a newly elected executive board and President. It was around this time also, that the ACE was renamed the Association for Cultural Economics International (ACEI), in recognition of its growing international focus and spread.

In 1993, the Journal of Cultural Economics was purchased by Kluwer Academic Publishers. The newly elected president of the ACEI, Dick Netzer facilitated the transfer of ownership and secured an agreement between Kluwer and the ACEI, which gave ACEI members automatic subscription to the journal, as part of their membership. This agreement established the Journal of Cultural Economics as the official journal of the ACEI. In 2005, Kluwer was taken over by Springer and to this day, Springer remains the publisher of the Journal of Cultural Economics.

Scholarly Recognition for the Journal of Cultural Economics (and the Field of Cultural Economics)

The transformation of the Journal of Cultural Economics into a reputable academic journal, along with transformation of the association itself into a globally recognized scholarly society, paved the way for cultural economics to be given an official classification within economic literature. Specifically, in 1993, the Journal of Economic Literature invited prominent cultural economist, David Throsby to write an article about cultural economics. This article, titled “The Production and Consumption of the Arts: A View of Cultural Economics,” was published by the Journal of Economic Literature in 1994 and established the field of cultural economics as a distinct and unique subdivision within economic literature, with the classification Z1 in the JEL’s classification system for economics.

Contributions of the ACEI to Academic Literature

From its establishment in 1992, the ACEI, via its biennial conferences, and collaborations with regional associations, has achieved significant developments in the field of cultural economics. These milestones of academic progress can be found in several series of handbooks, including: the two-volume compendium of literature in the field edited in 1997 by Ruth Towse entitled Cultural Economics: the Arts, the Heritage and the Media Industries; the Handbook of Cultural Economics, also edited by Ruth Towse and now in its third edition (edited by Ruth Towse and Trilce Navarrete Hernàndez, 2020); and the two-volumes of the Handbook of the Economics of Art and Culture, edited by Victor Ginsburgh and David Throsby and published in 2006 and 2013.

Additionally, achievements in the field of cultural economics have also contributed to the development of other fields of study. Notably, the model of unbalanced growth, developed by cultural economists, William Baumol, and William Bowen, and discussed in their 1966 publication titled “Performing Arts – The Economic Dilemma,” was adopted and applied to studies of the healthcare industry (as well as other industries where productivity lags occur). 

ACEI Today

Today, the ACEI exists as a membership society with elected officers, an executive board, and an official constitution. The ACEI continues to recommend the appointment of the Editors of the Journal of Cultural Economics and set the academic standard for the field of cultural economics. 

In recent times, the ACEI has been instrumental in the achievement of greater collaboration between academics in the fields of cultural economics and public policy (pertaining to the arts). These efforts will no doubt contribute not only towards greater development in academic literature (in these fields) but will also serve to shape a better future for artists everywhere.