Where this was said
The Economic Debate: Trickle-Down Tourism or Corruption as Usual?
At 12:00 · chapter starts 10:25
Host Noel King pushes back fairly: isn't there a legitimate case that Kushner's investment could actually help a poor country? Weissmann acknowledges that some Albanians do welcome tourism investment — but explains why the trickle-down argument fails to persuade the majority [1] — Jakob Weissmann "Supporters argue the Kushner resort will create jobs and infrastructure. But Albanians, burned by decades of corruption, don't trust that p…" 10:21 . The country's track record of corruption over 30 years means people simply don't believe that resort profits will flow down to ordinary workers. The evidence they cite is the mass emigration: talk to any Albanian and their dream is to leave. Weissmann reserves particular skepticism for Rama's 750-page vision document, 'The Albania Files,' which he compares to a personal ego project — a plan to turn the country into Dubai that looks, from the outside, more like one man's vanity project than a credible development strategy.
Prime Minister Rama authored a 750-page document called 'The Albania Files' outlining his vision of transforming Albania into a tourist haven, which critics say looks like a personal ego project.
