Standard economic frameworks and metrics for assessing economic output have systematically undervalued the dynamic, long-run returns that culture and the arts generate. Major cultural events like Brazil’s Carnival highlight this failure – and offer a powerful corrective to it.
LONDON – Brazil’s Carnival, the greatest party on earth, ended last week. For those who have never been, no description does it justice. The blocos playing in the streets, the samba schools parading through Rio de Janeiro’s Sambadrome, the drumlines, the costumes, and the collective joy of millions of people constitute a spectacle unto itself. In dark and divided times, Carnival reminds us that participation, creativity, and shared celebration are not peripheral to economic life. They are part of what economic life is for.
LONDON – Brazil’s Carnival, the greatest party on earth, ended last week. For those who have never been, no description does it justice. The blocos playing in the streets, the samba schools parading through Rio de Janeiro’s Sambadrome, the drumlines, the costumes, and the collective joy of millions of people constitute a spectacle unto itself. In dark and divided times, Carnival reminds us that participation, creativity, and shared celebration are not peripheral to economic life. They are part of what economic life is for.