While the cost of producing a film has indeed gone down and the world film market is indeed more open than ever, there is still an insurmountable obstacle in the way. The film industry is characterized by positive externalities, that is, the more films a country is producing, the easier it is to produce a film.
Recently, I attended a show by the famous Erisioni dancing group, which was performing in Georgia for the first time after two years of constant traveling abroad. The Georgian dancers in traditional costumes were sensational, but as an economist, a minor incident caught my attention nearly as much as the Erisioni ensemble.
According to Ivanishvili, who made his $5.5 billion fortune in the Russian banking and metals industries, such headline-grabbing purchases were part of a calculated business strategy -- opening a world-class art museum in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, that can do battle with New York City’s Solomon R. Guggenheim museum and other prominent modern art centers.