Creative Labor, Design, and Convention Theory

The contribution introduces and outlines how creative labor and design are being addressed in economics and sociology of conventions (in short EC/SC or convention theory). It discusses the sector of creative labor and design as a diverse field, where different conventions come into play to justify coordination and for the valorization of things and persons. These conventions overcome uncertainties about behavior both within companies and professional groups, as well as on the markets, particularly in terms of setting the price of products or services. The chapter presents research on the subject and displays different empirical and theoretical works. The first part discusses EC/SC’s conceptual approaches on devices for judging creative labor, whether more general with the orders of worth model or, more specifically, with a focus on labor markets with issues in terms of training, recruitment, and careers. The second part focuses on the role of designers in the valuation of things. Here, their special role as market professionals is emphasized, and literature in the field of intellectual property rights for creatives is discussed, in particular by distinguishing different conventions for attributing these rights according to productive configurations.