Intangible cultural heritage

2003 UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage has widened the scope of national policies for cultural heritage (CH), calling for the recognition of the importance of intangible cultural heritage (ICH) and, thus, the introduction of tools for its protection. ICH is not only related to the past; it is alive, and local communities, which are referred to as its ‘holders’, have a fundamental role to keep it alive and transmit it. This chapter illustrates how cultural economics explores CH, and then highlights the changes to the analysis related to the inclusion of the notion of ICH.