Una aproximació des de l'anàlisi econòmica a la rellevància social dels jaciments arqueològics

Archaeological sites provide different types of services to society, services that make the society values them. The aim of this chapter is only their economic valuation that is often underestimated either for the difficulty of finding it or for considering not necessary in the field of culture. This study does not pretend, however, being a single parameter or basic but useful in making decisions about culture for the following reasons. First, culture is an economic sector sometimes very important in some local economis which maintains close interactions with other economic sectors. The economic analysis examines these productive interactions of the cultural sector and detects possible anomalies in regional development. Secondly, the economic valuation provides relevant conclusions for public and private decisions and improves the allocation of scarce resources. Indeed, the study of economic activity or job creation linked directly to investment in culture is a valuable nformation that policy makers should take into account. Ultimately, the economic valuation generates good habits in terms of data collection and in-depth analysis of expenditure and investment in culture. In this chapter we use the well-known travel cost method to approach the economic value of four different archaelogical sites in Catalonia.