Usually graphs like this are about how productive an industry is in a local area. That’s not important here. Instead, consider GDP of arts, entertainment, and recreation as a reflection how developed this cluster of industries are in their respective geographies. So it’s not that STL City has a higher output than the county, it’s more that this urban area has been better at developing the arts than its suburban rival, which allows it to have higher outputs.

Drilling down we se the formula that BEA uses to calculate the GDP is based largely on compensation to employees.

County GDP = Staff Compensation + Gross Operating Surplus + (Production & Imports Taxes – Subsidies)

If employee compensation is highly relevant in the model then developing the arts means paying people in the art world and other industries to what they do. By doing so, it will factor into conversations on GDP. Next we’ll look at how the arts in STL compares with other industries in STL.