On Wednesday, the Penn Cultural Heritage Center hosted a lecture about the role of economics in heritage preservation.
Peter Gould, chair of Penn Museum’s board of advisors, spoke about his recent book — “Essential Economics for Heritage” at the Sept. 23 event. He discussed the current economic challenges that affect heritage sites and possible strategies for combating them.
Gould, a consulting scholar at the cultural heritage, said in an interview that “the pressures on the heritage sector are such that people have got to start thinking about them as businesses, not just charities.”
His work focuses on the heritage sector — which includes museums, archaeological sites, historical buildings and landscapes, national parks, and the private and public organizations that protect and study such designations.
“Government support for these things is declining around the world,” he added, which forces institutions to consider questions of “supply and demand, competitive markets,” and determining how to attract people to their sites.
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Heritage sites must “make tough tradeoff decisions when they can’t do everything — either because they don’t have the money or they don’t have the people,” according to Gould.
That is where economics comes into play.
“Economic theories and business economics have tools for making those decisions,” he explained. “They’re not always perfect, they don’t always match either in theory or in in substance exactly how people should think about heritage, but they’re a data point that’s very important.”
Gould began his presentation by laying out the financial pressures impacting heritage organizations worldwide.
“Massive and important museums, like the Louvre, are — in the words of its director — ‘at the end of its rope,’” Gould said. “Cities around the globe are cutting their budgets for culture to meet urgent needs.”
He also noted the current economic constraints heritage sites around Penn are facing. He mentioned the the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, which is set to close on Sept. 30 due to “financial challenges.”
Gould highlighted a new set of economic concerns for heritage tourism — the market is changing alongside a shifting philanthropic landscape and rising operational costs.
He spent the latter half of his presentation discussing economic tools that he believes should be incorporated into the way that heritage practitioners consider their businesses — including market analysis, capital budgeting, and behavioral economics.
Gould emphasized that practitioners and economists must align to advance the future of the sector because “heritage is a puzzle in which the pieces held by culturalists and those held by economists rarely line up.”
The presentation concluded with an audience question and answer session moderated by Brian Daniels, the heritage center’s director of research and programs.
In an interview, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Philadelphia Zoo Jo-Elle Mogerman emphasized the timeliness of the event as someone in the heritage space.
She expressed that many people in the field “fundamentally believe in whatever the mission” of their organization is. Economic thinking allows practitioners to then look at “how to make the best use of those finite resources to deliver on your mission.”
“I think Peter makes the connection and the explanation of the economics digestible in a way that leads you to ask some questions in the field, and as a practitioner to help drive your organization forward,” Mogerman concluded.