Museum Efficiency

For our last article, Anna and I presented on one that analyzed the effectiveness of museums in relation to their inputs and outputs (inputs being staff, exhibits, design, etc. while outputs would be considered visit numbers). According to the article, most of the museums (specifically those in Sicily) are not operating at full capacity and could increase their visit numbers by increasing their size and traffic volume. Since Sicily is not on the mainland, the museums that do perform the best are usually those that are connected to a resort or have a reason to attract attention. By attracting more visitors, the museums in Sicily may have a chance at using their inputs efficiently.

Since this article compares size of the museum to technical efficiency, it made me wonder whether the larger museums we visited are more efficient than the smaller ones. The largest museum we visited was the Louvre, which, while not in Italy and not part of the actual trip, still counts in my opinion. The Louvre not only has a large museum in physical size, but it also has a vast collection that includes the Mona Lisa. Its reputation and renowned collection has the potential to attract a large group of people possibly making it more efficient than smaller museums. Going off of the assumption of an increase in size is an increase in efficiency proposed in the article, then the Louvre should be more efficient compared to a smaller museum like the Academia. While the Academia does have the statue of David to attract visitors, it does not have a large building size. However, higher efficiency doesn’t necessarily correlate to increases in visitor satisfaction. I know that when we were in the Louvre, the size of their collection was overwhelming. It would have taken days to stop and appreciate every single item. While the Louvre was impressive, I know I appreciated the small size of some of the other museums even if their smaller collections make them less efficient to the author.

Italy: A Trip Through Time

I think the most obvious set of experiences to take away from Italy is the visiting of so many cultural heritage sites. This makes a particular impression on an American, it seems, because the oldest places we usually visit are maybe a couple hundred years old. Compare this with a city which is almost a couple milennia old (Pompeii), and this inspires quite a bit of awe.

A section of Pompeii

Italy was full of archaeological sites, art museums, and many giant, old cathedrals. Everywhere you turned, there was something many centuries old, waiting to be explored . . . usually after paying an entrance fee. Which makes sense, because it must cost a fortune to keep all that stuff from falling apart.

Although, technological developments have helped cultural heritage in many ways. The ability to restore and recreate pieces of art and renovate buildings help vastly with the preservation of all forms of ancient heritage. In addition, advertising and the internet have created massive opportunities to market and increase tourism, thereby increasing profits which can be reinvested to improve sites and museums.

An excellent example of cultural heritage.

Yes, Italy has a lot of ancient buildings and cities. To me, it feels like Italy is living in the past, and having a lot of difficulty moving forward because of it. However, I must say, it is incredibly interesting to go to these cities of antiquity. I do find them fascinating.

Italy was a glance into the past, and it reminded me how much America looks toward the future. Overall, this class was a wonderful and educational experience.

I can't believe I got credit for this trip!

Wow, what a way to end our Italy trip! We spent the last five days of “Econ 315” on the island of Sicily. On our first day we visited the cities Noto and Ragusa. Both cities were destroyed by earthquakes during the 17^th century and were rebuilt in the same baroque style as before they were destroyed.  

A church in Noto

The girls in Ragusa

Another really cool thing we did was visit Sicily’s oldest chocolate factory. We got to go into the small factory and sample everything! One of the many things I bought was a cookie that had 40% ground beef as an ingredient. Did you know that chocolate acts as a preservative for meat?

Colton and I at the chocolate factory

My favorite thing we did in Sicily was visit an organic citrus farm.  A father and a son ran the family business and I can honestly say that I have never tasted an orange that good. If the US was ever able to sell “fresh off the tree” organic oranges, I would have a very high willingness to pay. At this particular farm they had pigs. They fed the pigs some of their oranges and the pigs were able to open them with their noses!

The citrus farmers

Juicy orange!

A really interesting article that Corey and I were given in Sicily was about the origins of the Sicilian Mafia. The mafia developed in the 19^th century in the western part of Sicily as a supplier of private protection. When the number of landowners increase, so does the competition for protection. The more people with protection, the lower the value is. Some people were willing to pay more so the mafia would be indifferent about the number of landowners they protected. Since all their customers were landowners, you would think that the mafia would chose to invest in the land, for example with technology or improving the quality of the soil. However, as this article explains, it was sub-optimal. For example, the more prouctive famrning methods they had, the more people would be required to permanently live on the land . Also if they improved the living conditions, it would redue the need to steel. Both improving production methods and living conditions would decrease the demand for protection.

We love our guide Alessio!

My last night was spent with the group in Paris. I had an early evening flight so all I had time to do was see the Eiffel Tour and take group pictures. It was hard to say goodbye to the group, after all we have been traveling together for the last four weeks. I must admit it feels amazing to be home and sleep in my own bed. I will not miss living out of a suitcase, the crazy Italian taxi drivers or the inconvenience of siesta, but hey, it’s all apart of the culture. But I will miss the pasta and wine, the people, our guide Alessio and most of all the everyone who went on the trip!  I can honestly say that this is the most amazing trip I have ever been on! I can't believe I got credit for going on this trip!

Ciao Italia

So we are finally ended our tour of Italy. I’m a little sad the month is over and we’re only one flight and two wonderful nights in Paris away from home. Today we decided to keep the flow of our full days in Italy and go to the Louvre and Notre Dame. Being in the Notre Dame made me think of allthe churches and famous sites we saw in Italy. Pompeii, St. Peter’s basilica and the Colosseum in Rome, and the Duomo in Florence were some of the big ones. But we also were able to visit many of the lesser-known heritages of the country. We stumbled upon a beautiful church in a small town on the Tuscan hillside and explored the baroque villages of Sicily.

Baroque city in Sicily

From cathedrals to ruins all over the country, we got to see much of Italy’s history in its built heritage. And Italy does very well in preserving this history. It’s easy to see, however, that much of this built heritage is slipping away from the lack of conservation efforts. It begs the question that many people have, what is worth keeping and what has to be let go?

Our last article for the month talked about just this. With urbanization and economic change in areas that could be considered built heritage sites, conflict arises about whether or not it is important to save all places that could be considered historically significant. In our article we read about how historians and archeologists will argue for preservation and the use of technology to educate about built heritage, while developers look to the future and advocate for advancement and modernization.

It’s a tough question really. Obviously it’s hard to imagine letting go of priceless artwork for instance, the artwork in theLouvre we would never consider letting go. But an old village settlement in Sicily that may have been forgotten wouldn’t be treated the same. Itwould be nice tosee it all remembered but it is impossible, as Italy is realizing, to see it all saved.

Village/settlement in Sicily

I can only be happy that I got a chance to see some of it before it is forgotten.

Ciao, Italia. See you next time.

Goodbye, Europe

As our adventures in Italy come to an end, the lessons we’ve learned have coagulated into a cohesive curriculum of economic concepts. We’ve learned about the economics of construction in ancient Rome, and how landlord-tenant legal relationships developed throughout the course of the empire. We discussed where the best places to grow grapes and olives are, how weather affects the flavor of these products, and why producers choose to grow these crops instead of other crops. However, some of the most interesting economic lessons weren’t to be found in the curriculum.

One of the best examples of economics we’ve encountered so far is the lack of satisfaction from each subsequent museum – or rather, a textbook example of the law of diminishing marginal utility. The museums in Florence were more interesting than the ones in Rome – except for the Vatican museum, of course – which were better than those in Venice, and so on. We went to the Louvre – the LOUVRE – yesterday, and couldn’t muster more than a “yeah, I guess this is cool.” The Louvre, by many accounts the most spectacular museum in the world, didn’t do much for us. We’re “museum-ed out.” That’s not to say we didn’t appreciate the grandeur of the Louvre, but our utility just wasn’t as big as it was earlier in the trip.

Another fun little economic fact we picked up was that, until the 1970s, the French government standardized the price of baguettes to make them affordable for everyone. Even though this hasn’t been the case for decades, prices are still paradoxically low, even though demand is so high – the French eat something like 20 million baguettes daily. Bread bakeries, or boulangers, are the perfect example of a highly competitive market, with a mostly generic product, low barriers to entrance, etc. Today, at a premium bakery, do you know how much a baguette costs? 1 euro. A yardstick-sized baguette, a real French baguette, for 1 euro. Even sub-par baguettes at a supermarket back home cost a few bucks.

I’m now realizing that I’ve been writing in first-person plural this whole time. Oh well, I think I can speak for the group in this regard.

Thus concludes the last of my blogs for this trip, which I will treasure as one of the best experiences of my life. Goodbye Europe, until next time…

The Path of the Gods

Since I had never traveled out of the country before going to Italy, I was greatly looking forward to the differences I would see and the new perspectives I would gain. Now that I am in Paris after a month in Europe, getting ready to leave on a flight back home tomorrow, I feel that it is appropriate to discuss the part of the trip that impacted me the most. To be honest, I had originally planned going on this trip as a sort of vacation and celebration of my last year in college and probably education in general. However, what I did not plan on was learning as much as I did. Every town and region we visited had something uniquely applicable and tangible to teach me whether it be the economics of sheep farming near the Cinque Terra or the intricacies of orange growing in Sicily. Our guide or “center of the world” Allesio was an incredibly valuable resource to me. Through him I learned about and saw places I would have never dreamed of going to as a tourist of the country.

View of the Island of Capri from the Path of the Gods

Looking back on this past month, one place we visited stands on a level multiplicatively higher than any other experience for me, and that place was called the Path of the Gods. The Path of the Gods is a walking trail between the towns of Agerola, Praiano and Positano along the Amalfi Coast. We started our journey in Agerola by walking down a small side street and suddenly we were on the trail. There were no large signs or entrances signifying the start of the path. Looking back, I am still blown away at how a place as beautiful as this is not advertised heavily. The panoramas of the landscape, waters, and Island of Capri were easily the most stunning views I have ever witnessed in my life. There are no words to describe the sense of awe I had during the three hour hike. The Path of the Gods is a name that simply could not have been chosen more precisely. The weather was as perfect as could be during the winter in Italy and we soaked up every ounce of Sun we could. There were some local wine growers who waved and greeted with shouts of “buongiòrno” as we passed their homes, but those are literally the only other people we saw on the trail. I couldn’t believe that no one was there after just coming from Rome where there were tourists everywhere, especially since this place struck me ten times harder than any place in Rome could. The three hours spent walking the trail will forever be immortalized in my mind as one of the most special experiences in my life.

The village of Positano along the Amalfi Coast

I know the effect the Path of the Gods had on me would not be typical of everyone who visits it, but I feel that is what makes Italy so special. Sure, there are the areas such as Rome, Naples, Venice and Florence that really pump the economy of tourism in the nation, but I feel that the real gems in Italy are those you have to venture a bit off the beaten path to discover. Of course, this can also lead to problems such as the town of Noto and many others in Sicily that are not getting the money they need from tourism to maintain their cultural heritage sites. This is where the theme of our course, investigating environmental and economic change in Italy, really comes into play. How do those in charge of maintaining the economy in Italy spread the tourists out enough to ensure the small areas that really need it are discovered and acknowledged? What should be preserved and what should be left to fade away with limited resources? How should new technologies be integrated into ancient sites without contaminating the history? These are all questions that we have had the privilege to discuss at length with experts and students alike over the past month in this course, and I look forward to seeing how the economy of a place so ancient adapts and changes over the coming years in a world that gets faster by the day.

-Tyler Larson

Venetian Waterways

When I pictured Venice, I imagined a town on the sea with winding canals and gondolas; what I didn't factor in was how being on the water affected the city. I assumed that because we came from Sorrento, which is also on the water, that Venice would have similar, comfortable weather. I was wrong. Going from warm, balmy Sorrento to bone chilling cold Venice was an unexpected shock. The temperature was above freezing level but the wind that came off of the Venice lagoon made it seem like it was below freezing.
Even though the waterways affected the temperature in a negative way, they are vital to the fishing industry in Venice. In the Venice lagoon there is a specific type of clam called the caparozzolo that is able to be collected year round. Fishermen seek out this clam because of its high yields and profits. Illegal rakes and tools are used by the fisherman who catch caparozzolo which increases the number of clams caught but in return, harms the ecosystem of the Venice lagoon in the process. In order to decrease the damage to the lagoon, specific areas of the lagoon are allocated to fisherman.
The article, "A Multi-Object Auction for Selling Fish Permits in the Venice Lagoon", explains the benefits of auctioning off the fishing permits to harvest the clams and compares it to grandfathering (choosing which plot goes to which fisherman) the clamming areas. Supposedly, auctioning off the fishing permits is more efficient and allows a more even distribution of goods compared to grandfathering. With grandfathering, local authorities give fishing areas to those fisherman who have fished in the particular area for a long time or they give it to those with the greatest political power. Even though grandfathering is said to be inefficient, that is the method that is used in the Venice lagoon. Regardless of the method chosen, it is vital to maintain the ecosystem of the lagoon not only for the fishing industry but for the tourist industry as well. Even though Venice was cold, seeing the lagoon and the waterways with the gondolas was a memorable experience and I would not hesitate to come back in the spring or summer.