Values and Norms Matter – On the Basic Determinants of Long-Run Economic Development

Over the last couple of decades, it has become a commonplace to claim that “institutions matter” for economic development. Yet, institutions are not exogenous but the result of human action. It is argued here that the values and norms held by substantial parts of society’s members are an importan...

Ausführliche Beschreibung

Gespeichert in:
Bibliographische Detailangaben
Veröffentlicht in:MAGKS - Joint Discussion Paper Series in Economics (Band 22-2008)
Autoren: Voigt, Stefan, Park, Sang-Min
Format: Arbeit
Sprache:Englisch
Veröffentlicht: Philipps-Universität Marburg 2008
Schlagworte:
Online Zugang:PDF-Volltext
Tags: Tag hinzufügen
Keine Tags, Fügen Sie den ersten Tag hinzu!
Beschreibung
Zusammenfassung:Over the last couple of decades, it has become a commonplace to claim that “institutions matter” for economic development. Yet, institutions are not exogenous but the result of human action. It is argued here that the values and norms held by substantial parts of society’s members are an important determinant of its institutions. It is further argued that values and norms have both a direct and an indirect effect on economic development: the direct effect materializes because the values and norms also contain the work ethic which, if transformed into behavior, should have direct consequences on economic development. The indirect effect is conjectured to work via the relevant institutions: if institutions are important for economic development and institutions are influenced by the values and norms, then this is a more indirect channel through which values and norms can display their impact.
ISSN:1867-3678
DOI:10.17192/es2023.0209