parents, and duty to or independence from parents shows that countries where
family is regarded as more important have smaller firms and lower levels of per
capita GDP. There is also a strong negative correlation across countries
between the strength of families and the level of trust a citizen places in other
people (Bertrand et al., 2006).
Key points
- There is a problem defining culture, which has led many economists to
either ignore the concept or treat it as a residual in their analysis – ascribing
to culture anything not explained by economics. - The Weber hypothesis argues that Protestantism both discourages the luxu-
rious and idle enjoyment of wealth and at the same time celebrates labour.
Weber called the mix of hard work and the moral imperative to save
‘worldly asceticism’ and argued it is good for promoting economic growth. - There is fairly consistent evidence in support of Weber, that Protestantism
(and Catholicism a little less so) is good for economic growth. - Among Protestants trust,belief in private ownership, anti-redistribution
attitudes and literacy are stronger than in other religions. There are no
consistent results for any other religions. - There are particular problems with distinguishing the effects of belonging
to a religion and participating in regular attendance/worship from the
effects of group membership more generally. - Various influential works argue that cultural diversity has been bad for
economic growth. While many have argued that public policies impact on
growth,some scholars have argued that ethnic differences help explain
policy choice, so culture is the deep determinant of economic growth. - There are three problems with the cultural diversity arguments: that culture
is the central argument; distinguishing cultural from competitive political
mobilization; and that they ignore the issue of causation. - Institutions, in particular modern political parties, are a possible solution to
problems of social divisions and conflict. - Networks can have positive (and negative) impacts on economic outcomes
and though religion can operate as a network like any other there is
evidence of religion having an independent impact. - Networks can benefit their members in part at the expense of individuals
and groups who are not members. - There is a debate about the merits or otherwise of the family firm for
promoting economic growth.
Culture 267