Countries with great wealth or natural abundance often fall victim to their own blessings.
Economists have long known that resource-rich countries can get stuck in cycles of slow economic growth, intense environmental degradation and weak democratic institutions. But places endowed with a unique artistic and architectural heritage also can suffer from this “resource curse.” Breathtaking monuments from a storied past can generate economic rents and sectoral distortions not unlike those created by large reserves of fossil fuels and precious minerals.
Venice is a case in point. Plagued with fast-paced, cheap tourism, it increasingly suffers from a “beauty curse.” The city’s recent decision to charge an entry fee ($5.45) for day trippers merely confirms the larger problem: Venice is on its way to becoming an open-air museum — a cultural mausoleum.
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