Economic linkages and comparative advantage of the UK creative sector

Abstract

This paper adopts the industrial capabilities argument and the concept of revealed comparative advantage as the basis for evaluating the competitiveness of the UK creative industries in sustaining export growth. The empirical results have revealed a heterogeneous nature of the economic linkages and comparative advantage positions within the UK creative sector. There is also evidence to support the industrial capabilities argument that the dynamic inter-play within the domestic economy matters for the external competitiveness of industries, particularly for the creative sector. A further finding is that industries with strong backward linkages tend to be positively related, whilst sectors with strong forward linkages negatively related, to their within-country cross-sector comparative advantages.