This paper seeks to address this question by posing it directly: what is the dynamic
relation between the creative industries and the rest of the economy?5 The four models of this paper are the four possible answers to this question: namely (1) welfare, (2) competition, (3) growth and (4) innovation. Each of these possibilities parlays into a very different policy model: in (1) a welfare subsidy is required; in (2), standard industry policy; in (3), investment and growth policy; and in (4), innovation policy is best. Very different policy frame- works thus follow from each of the four basic dynamic models relating the creative industries to the rest of the economy. This paper will outline these four models and marshal a sample of existing evidence to begin the process of sorting among them.