Efficiency in the cultural field: theoretical issues and empirical investigation

Martedì 10 marzo 2015, ore 20
Aula 0-15, Villa San Saverio
Scuola Superiore di Catania

Classe delle Scienze Umanistiche e Sociali

Relatore: Prof.ssa Ilde Rizzo
Dipartimento di Economia e Impresa
Università di Catania

ABSTRACT: The line of research presented here has developed for more than one decade with a team, concentrating attention on efficiency issues in the cultural field, namely in rather unexplored areas such as built heritage and, more recently, archives. Microeconomics is applied to analyse, with a political economy approach, the decision-making process and its multi-output activities, both in terms of regulation and public spending, reaching the conclusion that a ‘public failure’ occurs. To address such a problem, the performance of the involved public actors is evaluated.

Moving from theory to practice, the first step is the definition and measurement of such outputs, highlighting how to deal with some practical measurement issues. Using Italy or Sicily as case studies, parametric as well as non-parametric techniques are emploied to evaluate the performance of built heritage authorities - both with respect to regulation and public spending – and of public archives and to investigate their determinants.

Building on the original empirical results obtained, policy suggestions, leading to dimensional changes, introduction of incentives and adoption of standards for conservation, are offered.

Keywords: performance, public decision-making, cultural heritage, archives, efficiency.

JEL Classification: Z1, D24, D72, C14, H57