Economics Research Seminar – Dr Enrico Bertacchini
Title: The Economic Impact of World Heritage Designations: Identification Strategies and Evidence from Italian Sites
Date: Wednesday 13 May 2026
Time: 13:30 to 14:30
Venue: NUBS.4.23
If you would like to attend, please register using the following link:
Speaker: Dr Enrico Bertacchini, Cognetti de Martiis, University of Turin
Enrico Bertacchini is associate professor at the Department of Economics and Statistics “S. Cognetti De Martiis”, University of Turin, where he teaches Cultural Industries & Global Markets and Governance of Economic Processes.
He graduated in Economics at the University of Turin and holds a Master in Economics from CORIPE–Collegio Carlo Alberto and a Ph.D. in Institutions, Economics and Law from the Universities of Turin and Gent.
His main interests within the “Internet & Society” field concern Internet as an infrastructure for the production of and access to information goods, in particular digitized cultural resources. He has multidisciplinary competences concerning the economics of culture and the economic analysis of intellectual property, with a focus on commons-based models for the production of and access to information goods.
His works has been published, among others, in the Journal of Cultural Economics, International Journal of Cultural Policy, International Journal of Arts Management, Review of Law and Economics, Ecological Economics and Regional Studies.
Abstract:
UNESCO World Heritage designations are increasingly regarded as a place-based policy tool with the potential to boost tourism, attract investment and support local economic development. Yet rigorous evidence on their actual impact remains limited, and measuring it poses significant empirical challenges.
The presentation first offers an overview of the data sources, methodological approaches and identification strategies that are emerging in this field of research, drawing on Bertacchini et al. (2024) and a number of recent works by other scholars.
The final part presents preliminary evidence from an ongoing analysis of the 2011 UNESCO designation “Longobards in Italy. Places of the Power”. The serial nature of the site offers a unique opportunity to examine how the effects of a single UNESCO inscription vary depending on the local contexts in which it is embedded.