Cognitive Keynesianism: Heritage conservation as a platform for structural anti-cyclic policy. The case of the Halland Region, Sweden

Abstract The paper presents the case study of the so called Halland Model, a pioneering example of strategic inter-sector coordination focused upon cultural heritage conservation, which has solved a major structural crisis of the local economy in the early 90s through an original public administration-driven, capability building-centred approach. We argue that this example can be taken as the prototype of a more general, structural approach to counter-cyclic policies that we call Cognitive Keynesianism (CK), and that CK in turn can be usefully read in the context of the more general class of culture-led local development models known as System-Wide Cultural Districts (SWCD). The paper analyses how the Halland model case fits into the CK and SWCD frameworks, and draws implications in terms of directions for future research and policy design in the current context of Europe's low growth trajectories.