The economic valuation of culture: methods, management and policy

Students acquire knowledge of the main economic techniques to assess the value of public goods and culture in a multi dimensional perspective. Quantitative, qualitative, monetary and non monetary tools are addressed. The evaluation toolkit sets the basis to design management and policy strategies.

No specific prerequisites are required.

h1. 1. The rationale for the economic evaluation of public goods: methods, techniques and policy aims
a) The public good framework: non market values, impure public goods, market failures
b) The concept of total economic value of cultural and environmental goods
c) The boundaries of economic analysis: monetary and non monetary values
d) The appraisal of public investments, discounting and the notion of opportunity costs
e) Cost benefit analysis and multi criteria analysis
f) The discounting dilemma: economics and ethics
g) Demand and the role of consumer preferences

h1. 2. Economic valuation techniques
a) Revealed preference Techniques: analysing ex post real observed data
b) Stated preference Techniques: analysing ex ante non observable data for future strategies
c) Choice experiments: public economics, marketing and planning
d) Non monetary qualitative tools beyond economics: rating preferences and judgement values

h1. 3. Management of Cultural sites
a) The use of Economic valuation techniques for business planning
b) Demand analysis: value, pricing
c) The expansion of demand and inclusion strategies: culture as an experience educational goods
d) Managing cultural sites through efficient and equitable pricing
e) Fundraising through value elicitation
f) Case studies

h1. 4. Policy making in the cultural field
a) Micro and macro rationales for policy making: investments and better allocation of resources
b) Bringing together the State and the market towards complementary settings
c) The use of taxes and subsidies as informed from valuation analysis
d) Cultural policies and public good decentralisation
e) Economic and administrative jurisdictions in global and local contexts

Students acquire applied and concrete knowledge of how to use economic methods to evaluate non market goods to set up management strategies and policies. They will handle cost benefit analysis and multi criteria analysis. They will be able to carry out Demand analysis for cultural sites and elaborate investment projects, fundraising strategies and business plans that outline all economic and financial values of culture.

• EFTEC, 2005, Valuation of The historic environment, London. E-version
• Pearce D.W. Atkinson G. Mourato S., Cost Benefit analysis and the Environment, OECD, 2006 E-version
• Mazzanti M. (2006), Metodi e tecniche di analisi per la valutazione economica dei beni culturali, Franco Angeli
• Nuti F. (2001), La valutazione economica delle decisioni pubbliche, Giappichelli
• Mazzanti, M., 2003, Valuing Cultural Heritage in a Multi-Attribute Framework. Microeconomic Perspectives and Policy Implications, Journal of Socio-Economics, vol.32 E-version
• Mazzanti, M., 2002, Cultural Heritage as a Multi-dimensional, Multi Value and Multi Attribute Economic Resource, Journal of Socio-Economics, vol. 31, n.5, pp.529-558 E-version
• Mourato, S., Mazzanti, M., 2002, Valuing Cultural Heritage: Evidence and Prospects, in Assessing the Values of Cultural Heritage, Research Report, Getty Conservation Institute, Los Angeles
• S. Navrud, R. C. Ready, Valuing Cultural Heritage: Applying Environmental Valuation Techniques to Historic Buildings, Monuments and Artifacts, Edward Elgar, 2002 E-version

• Written assignments. • Open discussion with professor and students. 50/50

Massimiliano Mazzanti is Full Professor (ECON-02/A) at University of Ferrara, Italy. He is a director of Department and Delegate for the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR).

Main Publications
1. Mazzanti M. (2006), Metodi e tecniche di analisi per la valutazione economica dei beni culturali, Franco Angeli
2. Mazzanti, M. (2006), Metodi e strumenti per la valutazione economica del patrimonio culturale, Franco Angeli
3. Mazzanti, M. (2007), Dinamiche innovative, relazioni industriali, performance nelle imprese manifatturiere. Seconda indagine sul sistema locale di Reggio Emilia, FrancoAngeli
4. Mazzanti, M. (2009), Waste & Environmental Policy, Routledge, Routledge explorations in environmental economics
5. Mazzanti, M. (2010), Environmental efficiency, innovation and economic performance, Routledge, Routledge explorations in environmental economics
6. Costantini, V.; Mazzanti, Massimiliano (2011), Hybrid Economic Environmental Accounts, Routledge
7. Pini, Paolo; Antonioli, Davide; Bianchi, Annaflavia; Mazzanti, Massimiliano; Montresor, Sandro (2011), Strategie di innovazione e risultati economici. Un’indagine sulle imprese manifatturiere dell’Emilia-Romagna, FrancoAngeli
8. Costantini, V.; Mazzanti, Massimiliano (2013), The dynamics of economic and environmental systems. Environmental policy, innovation and competitiveness, Springer
9. Mazzanti, Massimiliano; Montini, A. (2013), Waste Management in Spatial Environments, Routledge
10. Barbieri, Nicolò; Beretta, Ilaria; Costantini, Valeria; D’Amato, Alessio; Gilli, Marianna; Marin, Giovanni; Mazzanti, Massimiliano; Tagliapietra, Simone; Zoboli, Roberto; Zoli, Mariangela; Paleari, Susanna; Bassi, Andrea M.; Ulrich Speck, Stefan (2021), Sustainability Transition and the European Green Deal: A Macro-Dynamic Perspective, European Environmental Agency
11. Zoboli, Roberto; Mazzanti, Massimiliano; Paleari, Susanna; Bonacorsi, Laura; Chioatto, Elisa; D’Amato, Alessio; Ghisetti, Claudia; Maggioni, Mario A.; Zecca, Emy (2020), Energy and the Circular Economy: How to Fill the Integration Gap?, Fondazione Enrico Mattei
12. Speck, S.; Zoboli, R.; Paleari, S.; Marin, G.; Mazzanti, M.; Costantini, V.; Barbieri, N.; Gilli, M.; D'Amato, A.; Zoli, M.; Sforna, G.; Bassi, A. (2020), The Sustainability Transition in Europe in an Age of Demographic and Technological Change, European Environment Agency
13. Zoboli, Roberto; Mazzanti, Massimiliano; Paleari, Susanna; Bonacorsi, Laura; Chioatto, Elisa; DʼAmato, Alessio; Ghisetti, Claudia; Maggioni, Mario A.; Zecca, Emy (2020), Energy and the Circular Economy: Filling the Gap Through New Business Models Within the EGD, Fondazione Enrico Mattei
14. Diaz Lopez, F. J.; Mazzanti, M.; Zoboli, R. (2023), Handbook on Innovation, Society and the Environment, Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd.
All publications
https://docente.unife.it/massimiliano.mazzanti/pubblicazioni