Do the creative industries support growth and innovation in the wider economy? Industry relatedness and employment growth in Italy

The role of the cultural and creative industries (CCIs) in fostering innovation and growth in the wider economy has been much debated, beginning with Bakhshi et al. (2008) seminal contribution. Such studies of creative industries assign a strategic role to territories, but they provide little empirical evidence. In this paper, the issues of the creative economy are combined with evolutionary economic geography topics to understand whether the CCIs are able to foster innovation and growth in the wider economy. Using an indicator of the relatedness between creative and other sectors for the Italian provinces, we analyse employment growth over a period of ten years (2006–2015). A panel data analysis is then applied to investigate the role of relatedness and the clustering of creative industries in wider economic growth, showing that, to favour growth, the creative industries require the presence of other sectors with a high degree of proximity/relatedness.