It is articulated into three thematic modules:
i) general definitions and views of culture and of its relationship(s) with economic development, as cultural capital hence a factor of development, as well as a set of beliefs and priors that contribute to determine economic agents’ behaviors. In this module we will also briefly peruse the literature (a debate) on the comparative development of different countries, especially those of Eastern Asia, looking at the cultural reading of the existence of different models of capitalistic development. The key concepts are cultural capital as production input and culture as determinant of so called fundamentals (through the utility functions);
ii) in the second module the key concept is that of cultural good, considered as both cultural goods in the proper sense (eg artistic goods) as well as a set of material and inmaterial goods constituting a community’s wealth (or patrimony). Cultural economics will thus look at the economics of the arts, the organization of cultural production (eg districts) and at the valorization of cultural wealth, in particular collective wealth or commons, and their governance;
iii) finally, we will tackle the theme of tourism as a factor of local development through the valorization of cultural goods, and to its sustainability.