The Economics of Heritage

Sam Perry and I read the article titled, "The Economics of Heritage," which focused on the difficulties of valuing heritage. The economics of heritage refer to the investigation of museums, markets for collectibles and built heritage. Built heritage is a term which includes all the man made structures which include archaeological remains as well as cities. The article revealed that the main problem in dealing with the economics of heritage is that it can be extremely difficult to define and value cultural resources.There is no simple way express cultural value through a monetary value.

Today our class spent our first full day in the city of Verona, Italy. One of largest pieces of heritage in the city is the Arena di Verona. The Arena, built in 30 AD, once held 30,000 screaming spectators from all over to witness the thrilling games. Now the venue serves as a home to opera concerts and ballet shows. The question today is how does one decide how much a visitor should pay to see such an extraordinary piece of history? How does one correctly price cultural heritage?

The article explained that this is not a simple answer due to complex nature of economic heritage. Heritage is a complex good because it is a source of multiple outputs. For example, the Arena di Verona offers services such as entertainment and education to visitors, preservation and conservation services as well as research services. A further source must be taken into account for all future generations that are currently unable to express their willingness to pay to see the Arena di Verona. Because of these multiple outputs it is extremely difficult to apply marketplace criteria for pricing.

Personally, I would have paid any price that was asked in order to walk inside the arena. That is only because once I walked through the stone arch, revealing all that the Arena had to offer, I had no choice but to stare in amazement. The feeling of being inside a historical artifact of such great significance and size is overwhelming, even breathtaking. If the next couple of weeks turn out like today, I will surely never forget this trip!

- Zack Cramer