Public Investment in Cultural Heritage: A Municipal Analysis in Colombia

Over the past decades, cultural heritage has gained importance as a key resource in development strategies across Colombian municipalities. Public actions have focused on promoting activities such as tourism, which contribute to improving residents’ living conditions. Despite Colombia’s rich heritage — a country with 1,103 municipalities and more than 3,000 traditional festivals — significant gaps persist in interregional economic dynamics and fiscal capacity, hindering the proper management of heritage in these territories. This article empirically explores and analyses the factors explaining differences in cultural investment levels in heritage across Colombian municipalities during the period 2012–2020, based on a set of economic, demographic, and cultural variables. Novel variables such as cultural governance are included, along with results differentiated by heritage type, aiming to understand the various funding logics and to identify inputs for public policies that better integrate culture into development strategies.