Arts funding multiplier nonsense

http://www.samizdata.net/blog/archives/2011/06/subsidised_arti_1.html

"'Money lost to the arts since 30.03.2011: £20,392,023.
Money lost to the economy since 30.03.2011: £40,784,046.'

The latter figure is exactly twice the former. I suppose this is a reference to the claim made by John Smith, President of the FEU, in the comments that 'Every £1 invested in the Arts generates £2 for the wider economy'."


http://www.samizdata.net/blog/archives/2010/11/is_this_what_th_1.html

"Polly Toynbee in the Guardian back in July:

'The return from a tiny government investment is probably greater in the cultural industries than any other – every £1 the Arts Council England puts in generates another £2 from commercial sources.'

The UK Film Council, quoted in the Independent in August:

'But the UKFC doesn't waste money, it makes it. For every pound it invests, the country gets £5 back.'

Ivan Lewis in the Guardian yesterday:

'The National Campaign for the Arts estimates that every £1 of grant given to the arts brings a fifteen-fold return in investment into the county [Somerset].'"