Cultural and creative industries are seen as a driver of economic growth. Over the last decade, research has attempted to link the increased intensity of these industries to the region's well-being. However, this is a controversial relationship that has yet to be proven. In this article we build a conceptual framework to help us test the possible causality between regional income generation and employment in the cultural and creative sectors. Using European regional data for 1999-2008, our results show that there is a significant feedback (bidirectional causality) between GDP per capita and employment intensity in the cultural and creative industries, which allows us to conclude that there is a "virtuous circle" fuelled by these industries.