At the roots of Creative Economy: a critical history of the imaginary

‘Creative Economy’ constitutes nowadays an influential imaginary, that shapes public policies and economic trends. Despite the enormous amount of literature published on the topic, few attentions have been paid to ‘Creative Economy’ imaginary before the millennium turn, taking as granted its foundation with studies on Creative Industries on one side and Florida’s Creative Class on the other. In this contribution, relying upon secondary material published all over the twentieth century, we aim to partially fill this gap retracing a critical history of ‘Creative Economy’. We will articulate it in its variants historically occurred, analyse its intellectual roots and the previous times in which it became publicly resonant, summarised in a scheme of observable variations and retentions over time. Moreover, we will delineate a scarcely deepened comparison between British and American ‘school of thought’ on Creative Economy.