A conclusion could mean different things: one would be a summary of the main points made in the book as a fairly routine piece of writing (common in student essays!); another would be an assessment of the theories and research, in this case in cultural economics, that are discussed throughout the book; a third could be the author's thoughts upon completing the book – what works, what does not, omissions, and so on; finally, the conclusion could point the way forward to how the ideas presented in the book could be used in possible future scenarios. I attempt all of these in this conclusion.

Writing this book has been a journey through familiar and unfamiliar territory. Much of the material is based on that which I have used over the last ten years or so in teaching courses on cultural economics, the economics of cultural industries and the economics of copyright (some, such as welfare economics, I have taught for much longer). My intention in this book was to bring it all together and make it accessible to readers with little or no previous experience of economics.