Heritage and the Wellbeing Economy

Since 2018, the UK’s HM Treasury has placed greater weight on wellbeing as a core economic outcome in its revised publications of the 'Green Book', the framework under which government departments make investment decisions. In this, social or public value is seen to include all significant costs and benefits that affect the welfare and wellbeing of the population, not just market effects (HM Treasury, 2023). Similarly, the UK's Office for National Statistics’ 'Beyond GDP' initiative seeks to develop supplementary measures that provide a more holistic understanding of the UK economy, society and the environment (Heys, 2022). The ONS now regularly publishes wellbeing statistics via the UK Measures of National Well-being Dashboard (ONS).

The focus on wellbeing valuation represents a significant shift in economic discourse and has real implications for the heritage sector. This is because many of the benefits of heritage are difficult to capture using orthodox marked based economic valuation tools and metrics such as GDP, thus heritage is often undervalued or in many cases given no value at all. Yet, there is a growing body of evidence that demonstrates the connection between heritage and wellbeing. Being able to articulate these benefits and quantify them creates opportunities to better capture and share the value of heritage on an economic platform.

Heritage contributes to life satisfaction

• People who cease visiting heritage sites report significant declines in physical health, mental health and life satisfaction. Findings of the NatCen research on patterns of participation for adults using the Understanding Society data, found that those who visited heritage sites in 2010/11 but were no longer doing so in the year before the 2013/14 survey, had a decline of 1.4 points in their mental health score. This is compared with declines of between 0.7 and 1.1 for other groups. The same group had the biggest decline of 0.3 in their average life satisfaction score. These results remained significant after controlling for the full range of factors in the model. Although it is not possible to fully establish patterns of causality, these results are suggestive of a situation where declining ability to participate in heritage activities have a negative impact on wellbeing (Lakey et al, 2017)

Heritage volunteering increases productivity and wellbeing

• The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s, Volunteering for Wellbeing Project in Greater Manchester (2018) was a training and volunteering initiative across 10 heritage sites targeting long-term unemployed or socially isolated people. After a year, 75% of participants experienced a significant boost in wellbeing, 60% maintained this wellbeing over the next 2 to 3 years, and 30% secured employment due to the skills acquired during the project. The project evaluation found that for every pound invested, it yielded a socio-economic return of £3.50 (The National Lottery Heritage Fund, 2018)
• A study by Ateca-Amestoy et al (2021) explored the relationship between heritage engagement and subjective wellbeing measured as life satisfaction in the European Union. The findings indicate that volunteering in heritage-related activities is associated with a 0.214-unit increase in life satisfaction. The probability of being "very satisfied" with one's life increases from 26.84% to 32.87% when someone volunteers, assuming all other factors remain constant
• The 2020 ‘House of Good’ Report measured the wellbeing value from church volunteering (The Churches Trust, 2020). Using a wellbeing valuation method, the study finds that volunteering generates an average wellbeing value of £4,712 annually for each church. Cumulatively, across all UK churches, the total wellbeing value is approximately £190 million per year

Visiting heritage sites can increase wellbeing and economic outcomes

Evidence suggests that visiting heritage can have a positive impact on mental health and wellbeing which translates to positive economic outcomes. 

• A mixed-method study by DC Research (2015) found evidence that visiting independently owned historic houses and gardens improved social connectivity, education and learning, physical activity and health, the physical environment, the economy, employment levels, and viability of the local areas. 
• Research by Fujiwara et al. (2014) shows how engagement with heritage can contribute to social cohesion, creating the basis for healthy communities that can further pursue local growth. The results suggest  that certain groups derive higher wellbeing benefits from heritage participation, particularly those: 
  • with a long-standing illness or disability (compared to healthy people) 
  • in 'blue-collar’ occupations (compared to other occupations) 
  • over 45 years of age (compared to people under 45) 
  • without children (compared to parents). 
• Two other observational studies led by Fujiwara found evidence of significant associations between museum visiting and living in proximity to heritage places/features and higher levels of happiness and self-reported health (Fujiwara, 2013) and higher likelihood of reporting being in good health (Fujiwara and MacKerran 2015). Each of the studies controlled for the potential effects of socioeconomic status. 

Wellbeing valuations significantly impact cost benefit analyses and decisions

A wellbeing-led valuation more fully captures and values the multidimensional contributions of heritage to people and communities. Including the impact of wellbeing in cost-benefit analysis gives a more comprehensive picture for investment decisions.

• The ONS’ Beyond GDP initiative demonstrates the significance of multidimensional valuations. In 2022, the ONS introduced new metrics to give a more comprehensive summary of the UK’s wealth position (Heys, 2022):
  • The UK’s Inclusive Net Worth stands at £36 trillion in 2020
  • This is 15 times larger than GDP and three times the size of the traditional net worth measure which equals £11 trillion in 2020. The latter excludes environmental assets and human capital, containing just the assets in the national accounts

• Research by Krekel and Frijters (2021) shows that when using a traditional Cost Benefit Analysis, for the Hull City of Culture evaluation, Hull 2017 does not look like a desirable project, with a negative net present value of -£4.4 million. But when a wellbeing approach is adopted Hull 2017 is demonstrated to have provided the United Kingdom with 28,000 “Wellbeing-adjusted Life Years” (WELLBYs)* at a unit cost of £1,171, which is better value for money than the 2012 London Olympics. The overall net present value using this approach is +£247.6 million

Note this table presents the most common metrics but the list is not exhaustive. For more information, visit https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/health-happiness/repository-of-positive-psychological-well-being-scales/

References

1. Ateca-Amestoy, V., et al. (2021) ‘Heritage Engagement and Subjective Well-Being in the European Union.’ Sustainability, vol. 13, no. 17, 26 Aug. 2021, pp. 9623–9623. Available at: https://doi.org/10.3390/su13179623. (Accessed 14.09.23) 
2. ‌DC Research (2015) ‘The economic and social contribution of independently owned historic houses and gardens’. Carlisle: DC Research Ltd. Available at: https://dcresearch.co.uk/projects/impact-assessment-projects (Accessed: 02.10.23) 
3. Drysdale, L. (2018). ‘Human Henge Evaluation Report’. Available at: https://humanhenge.org/2019/01/30/human-henge-evaluation-report/ (Accessed: 28.09.23) 
4. Fawcett, R. (2023). Converting the WELLBY - What Works Wellbeing. Available at: https://whatworkswellbeing.org/blog/converting-the-wellby/#:~:text=The%20UK%20Treasury's%202021%20Wellbeing,valuation%20methods%20(detailed%20below). (Accessed: 30.10.23) 
5. Krekel, C. and Frijters, P. (2021). ‘A Handbook for Wellbeing Policy-Making’. Available at: https://www.buecher.de/shop/fachbuecher/a-handbook-for-wellbeing-policy-making-ebook-epub/frijters-paul-krekel-christian/products_products/detail/prod_id/61848928/ (Accessed: 30.08.23) 
6. Fujiwara, D. and MacKerran, G. (2015) ‘Cultural activities, art forms and wellbeing’. London: The Arts Council England. 29. Available at: https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/sites/default/files/download-file/Cultural_activities_artforms_and_wellbeing.pdf (Accessed: 14.10.23) 
7. Fujiwara, D., Cornwall, T. and Dolan, P. (2014) ‘Heritage and Wellbeing. Available at: https://historicengland.org.uk/content/heritage-counts/pub/2014/heritage-and-wellbeing-pdf/. (Accessed: 21.08.23) 
8. Fujiwara, D. (2013) ‘Museums and happiness: the value of participating in museums and the arts’. London: Arts Council. Available at: https://happymuseumproject.org/happy-museums-are-good-for-you-report-publication/ (Accessed: 15.09.23) 
9. Hansen, E., et al (2015) ‘Cultural activity participation and associations with self-perceived health, life-satisfaction and mental health: the Young HUNT Study, Norway’. BMC Public Health, 15(1). Available at: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-015-1873-4. (Accessed: 10.10.23) 
10. Heys, R. (2022) ‘New Beyond GDP measures for the UK: a workplan for measuring inclusive income’. Available at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/economicoutputandproductivity/output/articles/newbeyondgdpmeasuresfortheukaworkplanformeasuringinclusiveincome/2022-05-12  (Accessed: 16.10.2023)
11. HM Treasury (2023). ‘The Green Book’. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-green-book-appraisal-and-evaluation-in-central-governent/the-green-book-2020 (Accessed: 29.09.23) 
12. HM Treasury (2021) ‘Wellbeing Guidance for Appraisal: Supplementary Green Book Guidance’. Available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1005388/Wellbeing_guidance_for_appraisal_-_supplementary_Green_Book_guidance.pdf. (Accessed: 08.10.23) 
13. Lakey J, Smith N, Oskala A, McManus S., (2017) ‘Culture, sport and wellbeing: findings from the Understanding Society adult survey’. London: NatCen Social Research. Available at: https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/sites/default/files/download-file/Culture%20sport%20and%20wellbeing%20-%20youth.pdf (Accessed: 07.08.23) 
14. Office for national statistics (2022). ‘Measuring progress: GDP and beyond - Office for National Statistics’. Available at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/news/news/measuringprogressgdpandbeyond (Accessed: 13.09.23)   
15. The National Churches Trust (2020) ‘The economic and social value of church buildings to the UK Key Findings and Technical Report’. Available at: https://www.houseofgood.nationalchurchestrust.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GADS1468-%E2%80%93-NCT-full-Exec-Summary-and-Technical-Report-V14-WEB.pdf. (Accessed: 17.10.23) 
16. The National Lottery Heritage Fund, (2018) ‘Improving Futures: Volunteering for Wellbeing’. Available at: www.heritagefund.org.uk/projects/improving-futures-volunteering-wellbeing. (Accessed: 07.10.23) 
17. Wheatley, Daniel, and Craig Bickerton (2019) ‘Measuring Changes in Subjective Well-Being from Engagement in the Arts, Culture and Sport.’ ResearchGate, Springer Nature. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/331245062_Measuring_changes_in_subjective_well-being_from_engagement_in_the_arts_culture_and_sport. (Accessed: 15.09.23)