The Creative Economy as a Factor of Economic Development: Three Different Cases, One Common Objective

This article presents an economic analysis of the behavior of the creative economy of three countries: the United Kingdom (UK), the Republic of Korea (South Korea), and Mexico. The experience and the actions implemented by the first two countries are useful to suggest the implementation of public policies for Mexico. As is well known, the creative economic sector contributes to economic development and generates wealth for the nations. The activities included in this type of economy may vary from country to country since theorists, organizations, and governments use different approaches and there are current discussions regarding what activities to include in this sector. The question is why developed economies are most worried about this kind of topic and the developing countries not so much, despite that in the future both kinds of economies will face problems from technological unemployment. Since the beginning of this century, the UK and South Korea have implemented practices regarding creative economies. For example, these regions have created specialized organizations to foster creative economic sectors with the perspective of technological development and by offering them financial support. In 2013, South Korea created a program to support creative and cultural industries, particularly oriented to the international market; the program was coordinated by the Ministry of Science, ICT, and Future Planning (MSIP). On the other hand, the government of Mexico has not implemented integral policies to assist or encourage creative sectors, where most of the support towards these sectors has come from private organizations and individual initiatives. The purpose of this article is to use the experiences of the UK and South Korea to suggest ideas and learning mechanisms that can be adopted by Mexico to implement practices, programs, and public policies to improve its creative sector.