Pier Luigi Sacco is a cultural economist at the IUAV in Venice.  The following is my translation of a 2009 presentation by Prof. Sacco on the role of culture in economic renewal.  I find in a highly informative analysis from an economic perspective of the role of commercial media, and particularly television, in a society.

My brief summary of his paper is that commercial media can lead over an extended time to a loss of positive freedom—the capacity for self-governance—which loss is antithetical to an information economy; cultural experiences can be the catalyst for people to examine their world and their place in it, which can have positive indirect consequences for an information economy.  It is a worthwhile read on its own merit, it is also an informative backdrop to my paper Liberal Markets and Illiberal Outcomes, also posted on this blog.  The presentation is 9 pages, single spaced.

The Economic and Social Impact of Capabilities Building and Individual Education