Friedman, Sam; O'Brien, David and Laurison, Daniel. 2017. ‘Like Skydiving without a Parachute’: How Class Origin Shapes Occupational Trajectories in British Acting. Sociology, 51(5), pp. 992-1010. ISSN 0038-0385 [Article]

O'Brien, David and Donovan, Claire. 2016. Governing culture: Legislators, interpreters and accountants. Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 37, pp. 24-34. ISSN 1045-2354 [Article]

O'Brien, David; Laurison, Daniel; Miles, Andrew and Friedman, Sam. 2016. Are the creative industries meritocratic? An analysis of the 2014 British Labour Force Survey. Cultural Trends, 25(2), pp. 116-131. ISSN 0954-8963 [Article]

O'Brien, David. 2016. What price evidence? The ethics of office and the ethics of social science in British cultural policy. Journal of Cultural Economy, 9(2), pp. 127-140. ISSN 1753-0350 [Article]

O'Brien, David; Windle, Gill; Gregrory, Samantha; Newman, Andrew; Goulding, Anna and Parkinson, Clive. 2014. Understanding the impact of visual arts interventions for people living with dementia: a realist review protocol. Systematic Reviews, 3, 91. ISSN 2046-4053 [Article]

O'Brien, David. 2014. ‘Cultural Value, measurement and policy making’. Arts and Humanities in Higher Education, 14(1), pp. 79-94. ISSN 1474-0222 [Article]

O'Brien, David. 2013. 'Shaping cultural policy around practical utopianism'. Journal of Policy Research in Tourism, Leisure and Events, 5(1), pp. 105-108. ISSN 1940-7963 [Article]

O'Brien, David. 2012. 'The Culture and Sport Evidence Programme: New forms of evidence and new questions for cultural policy'. Cultural Trends, 21(4), pp. 275-280. ISSN 0954-8963 [Article]

O'Brien, David. 2012. ‘Drowning the deadweight in the rhetoric of economism: what free swimming tells us about public services’. Public Administration, 91(1), pp. 69-82. ISSN 0033-3298 [Article]

O'Brien, David; Oakley, Kate and Lee, David. 2012. ‘Happy now? Wellbeing and cultural policy’. Philosophy and Public Policy Quarterly, 31(2), pp. 17-25. [Article]

O'Brien, David and Cox, Tamsin. 2012. ‘The “Scouse Wedding” and other myths and legends: Reflections on the evolution of a “Liverpool model” for culture-led regeneration’. Cultural Trends, 21(2), pp. 93-101. ISSN 0954-8963 [Article]

O'Brien, David. 2011. Who is in charge? Liverpool, European Capital of Culture 2008 and the governance of cultural planning. Town Planning Review, 82(1), pp. 45-59. ISSN 0041-0020 [Article]

O'Brien, David and Miles, Steven. 2010. ‘Cultural policy as rhetoric and reality: a comparative analysis of policy-making in the peripheral north’. Cultural Trends, 19(1-2), pp. 3-13. ISSN 0954-8963 [Article]

O'Brien, David. 2010. ‘No cultural policy to speak of': Liverpool 2008. Journal of policy research in tourism, leisure and events, 2(2), pp. 113-128. ISSN 1940-7963 [Article]

O'Brien, David. 2014. Cultural Policy: management, value and modernity in the Creative Industries. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0415817608 [Book]

O'Brien, David and Matthews, Peter. 2015. 'Connecting community to the post-regeneration era'. In: David O'Brien and Peter Matthews, eds. After Urban Regeneration: Communities, Policy and Place. Bristol: Policy Press. ISBN 978-1447324164 [Book Section]

O'Brien, David and Lockley, P. 2015. ‘The social life of cultural value’. In: Lachlan MacDowall; Marnie Badham; Emma Blomkamp and Kim Dunphy, eds. Making Culture Count: The Politics of Cultural Measurement. London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 87-103. ISBN 978-1137464576 [Book Section]

O'Brien, David. 2015. Business as usual, The UK and Cultural Industries as industrial policy. In: Kate Oakley and Justin O'Connor, eds. Routledge Companion to the Cultural Industries. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0415706209 [Book Section]

O'Brien, David. 2015. ‘Evaluation, Photography and Intermediation: Connecting Birmingham’s communities.’. In: Saskia Warren and Phil Jones, eds. Creative economies, creative communities: Rethinking place, policy and practice. London: Ashgate Pub Co. ISBN 978-1472451378 [Book Section]

O'Brien, David and Durrer, Victoria. 2014. ‘Arts Promotion’. In: Jennifer McGuire and Julian Matthews, eds. The Cultural Intermediaries Reader. London: SAGE, pp. 100-112. ISBN 978-1446201336 [Book Section]

O'Brien, David. 2014. "Creativity and copyright: the international career of a new economy". In: Matthew David and Deborah Halbert, eds. The Sage Handbook of Intellectual Property. London: SAGE, pp. 315-329. ISBN 978-1446266342 [Book Section]

O'Brien, David. 2013. ‘Public Value: Prospects and Perspectives from the UK’. In: Carol Scott, ed. Museums and public value. London: Ashgate, pp. 145-158. ISBN 978-1409446439 [Book Section]

Durrer, Victoria; Miller, Toby and O'Brien, David, eds. 2019. The Routledge Handbook of Global Cultural Policy. Abingdon: Routledge. ISBN 9780367244163 [Edited Book]

O'Brien, David and Oakley, Kate, eds. 2017. Routledge Major Works Collection: Cultural Policy. Abingdon: Routledge. ISBN 9781138889859 [Edited Book]

O'Brien, David and Matthews, Peter, eds. 2015. After Urban Regeneration: Communities, Policy and Place. Bristol: Policy Press. ISBN 9781447324164 [Edited Book]

O'Brien, David, ed. 2015. Cultural Trends, Cultural Trends, 24(3). 0954-8963 [Edited Journal]

O'Brien, David, ed. 2012. Special Issue: CASE: THE CULTURE AND SPORT EVIDENCE PROGRAMME, Cultural Trends, 21(4). 0954-8963 [Edited Journal]

O'Brien, David and Oakley, Kate. 2015. Cultural value and inequality: a literature review. Technical Report. Arts and Humanities Research Council, Swindon. [Report]

O'Brien, David; Graham, Helen; Hill, Katie; Matthews, Peter and Taylor, Mark. 2014. Connecting Epistemologies. Project Report. Arts and Humanities Research Council. [Report]

O'Brien, David; Garcia, B; Cox, T; Allam, M; Campbell, P; Cogliandro, G; Crone, S; Langden, F and Nuere, C. 2013. European Capitals of Culture: Success Strategies and Long Term Effects. Technical Report. Brussels [Report]

O'Brien, David and Wilson, Kerry. 2012. ‘Its not the winning’ The Cultural Cities Network final report. Technical Report. Arts and Humanities Research Council, Liverpool. [Report]

O'Brien, David. 2010. Liverpool on the map again’ Liverpool stakeholders’ reflections on Liverpool European Capital of Culture 2008. Project Report. University of Liverpool and Liverpool John Moores University, Commissioned by Liverpool City Council. [Report]

O'Brien, David. 2010. Measuring the value of culture: A report to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. Project Report. London [Report]

O'Brien, David. 2008. ‘Who pays the piper?’. Project Report. Liverpool City Council, Liverpool. [Report]