This thesis uses the case study of the Fallas festival in the city of Valencia (Spain), to assess the value of intangible cultural heritage. Within this framework the thesis explores a number of different issues: for example how social agents frame different qualities and benefits of cultural heritage in order to describe the value and claims for funding the arts. It finds that value assessment for claiming funds presents many challenges such as: identifying the values of the heritage in question; describing them; and ranking them according to their contribution to the public welfare. It examines the methodological techniques for assessing heritage values and goes on to discuss a number of tools that are, or could be, used for assessment.The thesis also explores how public bodies legitimise cultural funding. It examines the role of non-government arts organisations in supporting the arts. It proposes the analysis of donor decisions through a multi-attribute technique where donors state their importance to donor situations under specific conditions or attributes. Finally, it describes how the stakeholder approach can be applied for searching new ways of funding festivals. It also considers how intangible cultural heritage goods can be assessed within the process of cost-benefit evaluation. It also analyses how public bodies, as the principal supporters of culture, deal with the problem of valuing intangibles on social investments.The study uses the Fallas festival to test the research hypothesis. It uses a number of economic and statistical techniques to evaluate the Fallas Festival, these include Contingent Valuation, Choice Experiment and Descriptive and Multiatribute Statistics. The statistical techniques reveal that historical benefits are intrinsically valuable in the Fallas festival. The historical value that the members of the neighbourhood associations place on the Fallas festival justify that local social agents should support this festival.-3 - ENFOQUE HOLISTICO DE VALORACIÓN DE LOS IMPACTOS SOCIO-ECONÓMICOSLa presente tesis doctoral analiza el caso de las fiestas de Las Fallas en la ciudad de Valencia (España) a fin de valorar el patrimonio cultural intangible. Dentro de este marco se exploran los siguientes aspectos: cómo los agentes sociales atribuyen cualidades y beneficios al patrimonio cultural que justifican su financiación. Se comprueba que la asignación de valor para conseguir financiación presenta varios desafíos tales como: identificar los valores del bien en cuestión; describirlos; y clasificarlos de acuerdo a su contribución al bienestar público. Asimismo, se examina las metodologías y técnicas para la estimación de valores en el patrimonio cultural y aborda los métodos y técnicas disponibles, o posibles, para su estimación.De la misma forma el estudio de investigación explora cómo las instituciones y entes públicos legitimizan la financiación del patrimonio cultural. Se examina el papel de las organizaciones culturales no gubernamentales que financian el patrimonio cultural. Se propone el ...

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