Russian Creative Economy in Macroeconomic Statistics: Classification Issues and Added Value Dynamics

The purpose of this research consists in the identification and systematization of approaches that explain the variability of the structure of the creative economy as a set of economic activities.

Materials and methods. The study of the variability in the structure of the creative economy is based on reports from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport of the United Kingdom (1998) and international organizations (1986, 2008, 2009, 2025), as well as on the methodology of Rosstat. The main method of structure analysis of the creative economy is intended to summarize the positions of both government and international organizations, as well as researchers in this field. The empirical basis of the study is the time series of added value of the creative economy, the share of added value in gross domestic product, indexes of the physical volume of added value of the creative economy in 2017–2025, as well as the added value of economic activities by class.

Results. The presence of groups of economic activities, representing the “core” of the creative economy has been revealed: groups related to natural and cultural heritage, music and performing arts, production of creative goods, publishing, television and radio, creative services (design, advertising and architecture). Groups of activities have been identified that are considered only in one of the classifications and represent a possible direction for the development of the creative economy: goods partially classified as creative, trade, wholesale and retail, creative benefits, rental and leasing in this area. Empirical assessment of the dynamics of the added value of the creative economy presents a significant difference in growth rates and volume indexes both in individual periods and for the entire period under review between the types of economic activities related to the informatization of individual processes and the other groups that make up the creative economy.

Conclusion. The change of the standard classifications, used to aggregate statistical data makes possible to more accurately assess the contribution of the creative economy in macroeconomic indexes. However, the creative industries included in the creative economy have different importance in its structure and show significantly different growth rates. The analysis of the existing classifications of creative industries provides an understanding of such differences and possible trajectories of transformation of the structure of the creative economy.

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