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Cultural impact on national economic growth

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  • Maridal, J. Haavard

Abstract

Following Fukuyama's (2001) postulation for future research in economic development, this paper examines the cultural hypothesis regarding national economic prosperity. Culture is found to affect economic performance through two channels; cultural traits that stimulate individual motivation, and traits that develop social capital in the population. Culture is defined as a society's beliefs and value system and operationalized through the use of variables from the World Values Survey (WVS). The analysis controls for factors commonly recognized in the economic growth literature. The results are sustained through a sensitivity analysis using a variant of extreme bounds analysis (EBA). Compared with previous empirical studies, this research deepens the cultural analysis, increases the number of observations, and lengthens the time period studied.

Suggested Citation

  • Maridal, J. Haavard, 2013. "Cultural impact on national economic growth," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 136-146.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:soceco:v:47:y:2013:i:c:p:136-146
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socec.2012.08.002
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    2. Burhan, Nik Ahmad Sufian & Mohamad, Mohd Rosli & Kurniawan, Yohan & Sidek, Abdul Halim, 2014. "National Intelligence, Basic Human Needs, and Their Effect on Economic Growth," MPRA Paper 77267, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Kostakis, Ioannis & Lolos, Sarantis & Doulgeraki, Charikleia, 2020. "Cultural Heritage led Growth: Regional evidence from Greece (1998-2016)," MPRA Paper 98443, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Kim, Eun-Hee & Kim, Yeonbae, 2021. "Moving beyond the dichotomy of Hall & Soskice (2001): the State’s Role in economic growth," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 530-548.
    5. van Hoorn, André, 2018. "The use of identity primes to explain behavioral differences between groups: A methodological note," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 146-150.
    6. Paul Eliccel, 2016. "Culture and Accumulation of Capital : An Empirical study in the Context Haitian Society [Culture et accumulation du capital : une étude empirique dans le contexte social haïtien]," Working Papers hal-01555285, HAL.
    7. Dang, Huong & Partington, Graham, 2020. "Sovereign ratings and national culture," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    8. Tianjiao Qiu, 2018. "Influence Of Cultural Practices On Social Support Of Female Entrepreneurs' Startups," Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship (JDE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 23(01), pages 1-21, March.
    9. Eliccel Paul, 2017. "Culture et accumulation du capital : une étude empirique dans le contexte social haïtien," Working Papers hal-01567104, HAL.
    10. Ozbugday, Fatih Cemil, 2019. "Kültür ve Ekonomik Başarı [Culture and Economic Success]," MPRA Paper 96734, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Castellani, Marco, 2019. "Does culture matter for the economic performance of countries? An overview of the literature," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 41(4), pages 700-717.
    12. Syed Waqar Akbar & Ajid Ur Rehman & Imran Arshad & Waseem Abbas Shaheen, 2024. "From Theory to Practice: Examining the True Impact of Institutional Quality on Innovation Commercialization," Bulletin of Business and Economics (BBE), Research Foundation for Humanity (RFH), vol. 13(1), pages 8-21.
    13. Mario Coccia, 2017. "General purpose technologies in dynamic systems: visual representation and analyses of complex drivers," IRCrES Working Paper 201705, CNR-IRCrES Research Institute on Sustainable Economic Growth - Moncalieri (TO) ITALY - former Institute for Economic Research on Firms and Growth - Torino (TO) ITALY.
    14. Mario COCCIA, 2017. "The Fishbone diagram to identify, systematize and analyze the sources of general purpose technologies," Journal of Social and Administrative Sciences, KSP Journals, vol. 4(4), pages 291-303, December.
    15. Haavard Maridal, J. & Palich, Les & Morgan, Grant & Gardner, Steven & McKinney, Joe & Bolbocean, Corneliu, 2018. "Wellbeing Indices: A Comprehensive Inventory of Standards and a Review of Current Comparative Measures," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 1-11.
    16. Mohammad Nurunnabi, 2018. "Tax evasion and religiosity in the Muslim world: the significance of Shariah regulation," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 52(1), pages 371-394, January.
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    18. Pham, Hien Thuc & Carmignani, Fabrizio & Kler, Parvinder, 2018. "Thrift culture and the size of government," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 571-578.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Culture; Economic growth; Formal institutions; Informal institutions; Social capital;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O11 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
    • O17 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Formal and Informal Sectors; Shadow Economy; Institutional Arrangements
    • O43 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Institutions and Growth
    • O47 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Empirical Studies of Economic Growth; Aggregate Productivity; Cross-Country Output Convergence
    • O49 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Other
    • O57 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Comparative Studies of Countries

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