Application of the contingent valuation method at San Andrés Community Cultural Center in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico

Abstract

The aim of this article is to expand the scientific research field regarding Cultural Management exercised in a specific community and a municipal cultural policy. It proposes a method for measuring the valuation of cultural goods and services: the contingent valuation. This method inquires and quantifies, applying surveys, the welfare changes of people related to the provision changes of a cultural good or service. The recent opening of San Andrés Community Cultural Center on the eastern side of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, has been the opportune scenario for its application. The purpose is to analyze the changes produced in the inhabitants’ and users’ welfare through their disposition for paying the preservation and maintenance of the premises. Through the implementation of this analysis tool, it is possible to demonstrate the social approval this cultural center received, as well as to prove how relevant is to carry out multidisciplinary studies that include micro-econometric methods and cultural studies, as in this research, to contribute to the field of applied cultural research to improve the decision making process of cultural policy.