This book is written as an introduction to cultural economics; it assumes no knowledge of economics, even of supply and demand, and each economic concept is explained as it is introduced in the text. The book represents my kind of cultural economics, and my motive for writing this book is to expand cultural economics beyond its earlier scope to include the creative industries and the issues of copyright law that relate to them. The creative economy/creative industries approach is not just a fad in cultural policy (though it is certainly also that), and it encompasses many economic features that are important for the study of cultural economics. Nowadays, the term ‘creative industries’, which is widely used in government and international organisations, includes all cultural economics' ‘traditional’ subjects of the arts and heritage along with the cultural industries; as the book shows, copyright in the creative industries is an aspect of that too.

The other motive for writing the book is to make it as international as possible in terms of illustrations and experience. I have worked for ten years in the Netherlands at Erasmus University Rotterdam and have also taught from time to time at the University of Catania in Italy, and doing so has made me aware of just how differently students with different backgrounds think about cultural economics and policy; this is not surprising, because every country has a different history and set of institutions.