Yang, Ching-Shan; (2002) The economic value of museums: A case study of the National Museum of Natural Science, Taiwan. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

The purpose of this research was to explore what contribution an economic valuation approach can make to achieve a more sustainable management of museums, using the National Museum of Natural Science (NMNS) in Taiwan as a case study. This research employs management interviews and museum documentary surveys to explore the current financing mechanism of the NMNS and the Contingent Valuation Method to demonstrate the total economic value of the NMNS. The museum interviews and museum documentary surveys show that the development of the museums sector in Taiwan is a relatively new phenomenon. Although the NMNS and the museums sector are not directly under as strong political, economic and social pressures as their Western counterparts are, a more challenging future is foreseeable in the wider economic climate. The NMNS as well as the museums sector as a whole are not well prepared for this. The Contingent Valuation study discovers that people in Taiwan care about museums in general. The NMNS, amongst all museums in Taiwan, is of national significance. People would support a substantially higher level of government subsidise for the NMNS, and perhaps higher personal admission charges. This research has demonstrated that the Contingent Valuation Method can produce valid benefit measures of the NMNS, and identify factors associated with the benefit measures through econometric modelling. The revealed benefit measures and their associated factors provide useful information for museum policy formulation and evaluation from a public perspective. The results from the Contingent Valuation exercise are successfully used to demonstrate the NMNS's benefits to society, and to optimise its use of public resources without compromising the museum's fundamental duties. Overall, this research presents; o A first attempt to undertake a general public survey concerning the public demand for museums in Taiwan o A first attempt to devise an economic valuation study of museums in a non-advanced country o One of the very few economic valuation studies for cultural heritages to elicit non-use values, which enables a more comprehensive demonstration of the economic values of a cultural (quasi)-public good o A critical analysis of the current and potential financing mechanisms for museums in Taiwan in general and for the NMNS in particular. This was achieved by making use of the results from the management interviews, museum documentary surveys, and the Contingent Valuation study.

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