Italy has had this for a few years now (people born from 1998 onwards, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-08-23/italy-s-1...): €500 to be spent on books, music and cultural events, so even looking at the app idea and graphics I would guess this is where it was inspired from.
Overall, I would say it was well-used considering the problem our country has with "free money" initiatives, although I definitely met some people who tried to "cheat the system" to some (smaller) extent, e.g. by using the voucher to get free high-end Kindles in bookstores.
Also, about 40% of purchases (if I recall the stats correctly) were made on Amazon, Spotify or other "big tech" corporations, meaning that while it gave a boost to the smaller economy, local businesses did not get from it as much as one could expect.
2018 statistics (for completeness' sake):
~80 % on books; a bit more than a half on e-books; often used for university textbooks
~9 % on concerts
~7 % on cinemas
1.6 % on music
1 % theatre and dance
0.3 % museums
0.3 % cultural events
Is it such a waste to spend it on an eink kindle? Obviously it doesn’t sound as good but ebooks are cheaper and a kindle will last a long time. Obviously it doesn’t do much to support the local economy unless you count money going towards authors.
I had this thought too. A Kindle is a fine investment, especially because you're just going to use it to read books anyways (not many first person shooters to play on an e-ink screen).
The cheating included much more (https://duckduckgo.com/?q=bonus+cultura+truffa) than expensive e-book readers. Many, with fraudolent sellers, converted the monetary bonus to cash, and spent it as they please.
In my opinion letting people spend this bonus on crap (blockbuster action movies, pop music, etc.) puts the concept of "culture" in a spot I don't really like, when we're talking about public money: while anything you artistic can be considered cultural, because I'm a boring boomer I'd like my hard earned money to be used for something better than a summer music festival.
Well used? There were plenty of tricks and companies doing shady things with the money.
When it was used within the rules, youngsters were using it to go to the movies or buy music online.
I know of some tricks from friends of friends and you can find a few newspapers articles about the bonus being used to buy playstations and other electronics or converted in cash (500€ bonus -> 300€ cash).
If there is a rule, it will be circumvented. Italy and France should think about stopping taxing young people so much, instead of wasting public money in this way.
2018 data: less than 10 % of the money has been used for music (excluding concerts) and cinemas. Please check your sources.
2.503 young people misused that during 2017-2018. Every law can be violated; that does not mean it is bad or good just because someone could behave badly.
Why's that? 18 year olds are graduating secondary education this summer and now they have more money to spend in a society that's rapidly opening up. 19 year olds graduated last year, possibly the worst time to do so (especially given the strict lockdown in France), and they get nothing. Life obviously isn't fair but I can't help but feel for the 19 year olds.
Everyone who did not get this likely would have liked to, that's not informative criticism. That nineteen year olds had it rough last year has basically nothing to do with the article.
What they should have done is a $300 culture pass for the entire society to celebrate opening back up. If anybody should be open to such an idea it should be France.
I really wish the go to for everything hoi polloi wasn't Twitter. Twitter encourages trite, mean, and outrageous content, it's not going to have much of a variety of views that get any attention.
It infects anything.
I was listening to a podcast about my local sports team and they couldn't help but reference what they're 'not saying' relative to Twitter outrage ... repeatedly. And even address 'fan sentiment' purely through the looking glass of Twitter.
They talk about players who 'fans don't like' and yet you go to the game and you'd think that was the most popular player based on fan reaction...
Then I switch to my coding related podcast ... same thing, they address Twitter drama like it represents most coders.
It actually makes sense because during the covid crisis, there's been huge issues with student poverty (post high school). So giving out 300€ for 18 years old to buy video games when 1 year older students struggle hard to make ends meet is not taken well by some.
A 1 time 300 bucks given to all the students with a scholarship would be way more appreciated than 300 bucks given to all the 18 years old without distinction.
Even more ridiculous when you know that the 19 year old of 2021 were 18 year old in 2020 and they could get 500 euros with the very same "pass culture". So it's really hard to see while they would be unhappy.
I lived in France for several years, and I find it somewhat amusing how protective France is of their culture. They limit the number of foreign restaurant chains like McDonalds and Chipotle. They are protective of their language. The French dinner meal ("repas") is a UNESCO World Heritage Cultural Landmark. This "culture pass" is consistent with the French people's love of all things French.
I think it is a good thing overall. I remember the furor when McDonalds opened on the Champs Elysee. Let's be honest, identical globalist fast food plastic frontages ruin the uniqueness of places. Airports are the ultimate example, you can fly 1000's of mile and get off a plane to an airport that is virtually identical to the one you left. This is culturally banal and slowly visually homogenizing the world. The result is insane amounts of tourists heading to the few unique places left in search of differentiation
For all of Starbuck’s insistence that their franchises maintain a standard of service, I first encountered Starbucks in Seattle and didn’t completely understand the “charbucks” epithet until I bought a mocha in the terminal at DFW during a layover. How you burn coffee bad enough that you can taste it over chocolate I’ll never know.
There's a great article by Hans Magnus Enzensberger called A Theory Of Tourism which goes into this: https://mestrantroponova.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/hans-ma... [PDF, 1MB] The issue is that there's effectively no "good" level of tourism (unless you sell things to tourists I suppose).
Edit: The analysis itself starts on the third page, after comparing and contrasting two travel journals from centuries apart.
I'm not sure how much more offensive McDonald's frontage is than, just for example, Sephora. Both fronts look somewhat plain and are built into existing (and impressive) facades.
Of course, your criticism ignores that culture is more than restaurants and much more than consumerism. No matter what stores are open along the Champs-Elysees, that it connects the Arc de Triomphe and Tuileries Garden is worth more culturally than what store fronts exist along the way. That is certainly the unique bit, and probably what draws tourists.
I find it quite sad to see comments like this on HN. Is it amusing to you to see countries trying to protect themselves from absorption by the anglosphere (culturally)? That's how I read your comment - I hope I am wrong though.
Also, this measure is not really about french culture. It is about culture in general. If you visit an art museum most of time it's filled with art from everywhere. The quai Branly museum comes to my mind here, but really most museum have exhibits of foreign works.
My partner was a Velasquez fan and didn’t figure out that Spain had repatriated most of his paintings after the books she read had been printed. There was one wall in the Louvre and she was ill pleased.
When the local art museums rotate in traveling exhibits that’s more for the locals (where ‘locals’ might loosely include a few hours’ transit in all directions). But I feel a little guilty going because I know someone risked a truck full of Van Gogh or Picasso works by sending them a third of the way around the world. It’s cool but what if there’s an accident?
> They limit the number of foreign restaurant chains like McDonalds and Chipotle
I've never heard of anything like that. McDonald's are everywhere, there are new American concoctions of dubious nature making their way into the mainstream everyday and half the central streets of any given city seem to be made out of kebab joints.
I may be wrong and too I’m too lazy to search, but I think that at some point France was one of the biggest markets for MacDo. But honestly nothing can beat that kebab/swawarma thing, that stuff is the best meat for the buck you can get (and quite tasty, too). I’m surprised the kebab culture hasn’t made any big inroads in the States just yet, or it doesn’t seen that it has from half a world away.
There isn't a hard limit. I think I should have said "discourage". I have a friend who was an exec at Chipotle. It took him two years to get permission to open the first one in Paris, in part from that sort of push back. I also remember the controversy over the first McDonalds there.
France has a huge tourist economy and weirdly the reason it does it because it's France and full of French things.
Not sure why that should be considered weird or bad. If all France had was Chipotle and the other American chains then I would have visited it once and never again rather than the 15 or so times I've been.
I generally like French culture, and also see a strong economic rationale that covers the "amusing" part.
It has a strong (and also protected) agriculture sector, from memory they're in the 10 largest in the world, and having consummers buying these products is a big deal. McDonalds is fine, but they also definitely need restaurants serving steaks with blue cheese sauce with a small glass of wine.
Language protection also had an incredible effect on the entertainment industry that was seriously struggling before (also due to how strongly it was enforced, notably with the 40% rule)
I never heard about the limit of foreign restaurants. Fast food chains like McDonalds are absolutely everywhere. The food there however is significantly better than in the US.
Definitely. In the US there are countless better alternative fast food options to McDonald's, so it's a lower class / lower middle class targeted chain. In the US McDonald's competes on price to stay in that budget range rather than trying to move upstream on price. McDonald's is to fast food in the US what dollar stores are to retail.
In foreign countries the financial targeting is different and there are always fewer McDonald's per capita. There are twice as many McDonald's per capita in the US vs France for example (and France has a lot of them at nearly 1,500); Britain has a similar ratio as France.
The pass can be used for tickets to the cinema, museum and theatre, or to buy books, art materials, dance courses and instruments or an online subscription.
Am I being cynical in thinking the "culture" they use it on will be dominated by cinema and online and streaming stuff?
This sounds like a good initiative but I am not sure how helpful it is bundling in theatre, museum etc with more mass-market-friendly entertainment options. I note the classic French prohibition on some of the more American (ie. popular) digital choices though.
I totally agree with you, same thing happened in Italy and I believe that a state should sponsor "good" culture, especially when they use public money to do that.
But then again, I don't think I'd like to see how a state that chooses which culture is good and bad develops, let alone live in it.
Maybe the trick is to give this kind of money to people that are a bit older than 18?
For sure I'd push for the bonus to be used on local culture, and not foreign
.
I think you're just being cynical in thinking that it matters. As much as this is meant to promote French culture, it's seems like it's more meant to just give kids some money to spend on recreational stuff they might not otherwise be able to enjoy.
I do think you're being a bit overly cynical. Many kids will find a way to liquidate their money and buy cannabis. I know this, because that's what I would have done.
However, unlike software engineering, policy shouldn't be made to cover all the corner cases.
Museums in france are usually free if you live in the same town (no matter what age), and almost always free or at extremely cheap price if you're student or under 25.
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Overall, I would say it was well-used considering the problem our country has with "free money" initiatives, although I definitely met some people who tried to "cheat the system" to some (smaller) extent, e.g. by using the voucher to get free high-end Kindles in bookstores.
Also, about 40% of purchases (if I recall the stats correctly) were made on Amazon, Spotify or other "big tech" corporations, meaning that while it gave a boost to the smaller economy, local businesses did not get from it as much as one could expect.
-- https://www.ilpost.it/2018/06/20/bonus-cultura-editoria-ital...
I love my e-ink displays though :)
In my opinion letting people spend this bonus on crap (blockbuster action movies, pop music, etc.) puts the concept of "culture" in a spot I don't really like, when we're talking about public money: while anything you artistic can be considered cultural, because I'm a boring boomer I'd like my hard earned money to be used for something better than a summer music festival.
I know of some tricks from friends of friends and you can find a few newspapers articles about the bonus being used to buy playstations and other electronics or converted in cash (500€ bonus -> 300€ cash).
If there is a rule, it will be circumvented. Italy and France should think about stopping taxing young people so much, instead of wasting public money in this way.
Young people are not likely to earn money a lot, or at all in France, and so their income tax is 0%...
https://www.blevinsfranks.com/news/article/French-taxation-i...
Up to €10,084: 0% (a student job would not make more than that)
€10,084 – €25,710: 11% (a young person without a university degree would not probably earn less than 25,710)
It infects anything.
I was listening to a podcast about my local sports team and they couldn't help but reference what they're 'not saying' relative to Twitter outrage ... repeatedly. And even address 'fan sentiment' purely through the looking glass of Twitter.
They talk about players who 'fans don't like' and yet you go to the game and you'd think that was the most popular player based on fan reaction...
Then I switch to my coding related podcast ... same thing, they address Twitter drama like it represents most coders.
A 1 time 300 bucks given to all the students with a scholarship would be way more appreciated than 300 bucks given to all the 18 years old without distinction.
https://web.archive.org/web/20200521225211/https://pass.cult...
Edit: in 2020 the pass was not available in the whole country.
Edit: The analysis itself starts on the third page, after comparing and contrasting two travel journals from centuries apart.
Of course, your criticism ignores that culture is more than restaurants and much more than consumerism. No matter what stores are open along the Champs-Elysees, that it connects the Arc de Triomphe and Tuileries Garden is worth more culturally than what store fronts exist along the way. That is certainly the unique bit, and probably what draws tourists.
Well, the Sephora was a draw for my sister :)
Also, this measure is not really about french culture. It is about culture in general. If you visit an art museum most of time it's filled with art from everywhere. The quai Branly museum comes to my mind here, but really most museum have exhibits of foreign works.
When the local art museums rotate in traveling exhibits that’s more for the locals (where ‘locals’ might loosely include a few hours’ transit in all directions). But I feel a little guilty going because I know someone risked a truck full of Van Gogh or Picasso works by sending them a third of the way around the world. It’s cool but what if there’s an accident?
I've never heard of anything like that. McDonald's are everywhere, there are new American concoctions of dubious nature making their way into the mainstream everyday and half the central streets of any given city seem to be made out of kebab joints.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_with_McDonal...
Not sure why that should be considered weird or bad. If all France had was Chipotle and the other American chains then I would have visited it once and never again rather than the 15 or so times I've been.
It has a strong (and also protected) agriculture sector, from memory they're in the 10 largest in the world, and having consummers buying these products is a big deal. McDonalds is fine, but they also definitely need restaurants serving steaks with blue cheese sauce with a small glass of wine.
Language protection also had an incredible effect on the entertainment industry that was seriously struggling before (also due to how strongly it was enforced, notably with the 40% rule)
In foreign countries the financial targeting is different and there are always fewer McDonald's per capita. There are twice as many McDonald's per capita in the US vs France for example (and France has a lot of them at nearly 1,500); Britain has a similar ratio as France.
Its just that French Canadians buy their own culture.
Deleted Comment
What? It's also a notoriously hard market to get into.
[1] https://www.18app.italia.it
Am I being cynical in thinking the "culture" they use it on will be dominated by cinema and online and streaming stuff?
This sounds like a good initiative but I am not sure how helpful it is bundling in theatre, museum etc with more mass-market-friendly entertainment options. I note the classic French prohibition on some of the more American (ie. popular) digital choices though.
But then again, I don't think I'd like to see how a state that chooses which culture is good and bad develops, let alone live in it.
Maybe the trick is to give this kind of money to people that are a bit older than 18?
For sure I'd push for the bonus to be used on local culture, and not foreign .
However, unlike software engineering, policy shouldn't be made to cover all the corner cases.
All those owned by Paris city are free to all, always: https://www.parismusees.paris.fr/en