Frontier Economics were asked to examine the economic impact of public investment and intervention in culture. The research has developed a framework for assessing the impact of cultural interventions. Frontier proposes that most of the cultural policies the DCMS is responsible for can be categorised into five or six broad economic outcomes. For each category it is then possible to assess the contribution policies make to strategic objectives, the economic rationale for interventions, and the expected economic benefits that interventions deliver.
The research also reviews and critiques some of the existing research on the economic impact of sectors, and sets out a view on how this could be improved. Three reports are available at the link bleow:

• A framework for evaluating cultural policy investment - executive summary
• A framework for evaluating cultural policy investment - main report
• A framework for evaluating cultural policy investment - a non-technical summary

http://www.culture.gov.uk/Reference_library/Research/research_by_dcms/framework_ecpi.htm