Culture Influence on

Economic Development

Morosan Alexandra
Nicolaescu Andra
Theory
 Economic development has predictable
effects on culture and social life (eg. Inglehart
and Baker 2000)
 Barro and McCleary (1993) provide evidence
that religious beliefs are correlated with
economic growth
 Luigi Guiso (2006)
Research Question

 Is the culture influencing the economic

performance?
Hypothesis

 We expect to find that culture plays a role in

the economic development, but we have to
find out to what extent. In addition, we also
believe that education and religion influence
the economic performance of a country
The Model
 Culture and institutions: economic
development in the regions of Europe
Guido Tabellini (2005):

Y = αo +βo X + δo C + e
C = α1 +β1 X + λ1 Literacy + λ2 Institutions + v
Our Proposal
 Y= β0+β1*C+β2*E+A006, where:

Y=GDP/capita
C(culture)= sum_culture = trust + control +
respect – obedience.
E(education)= Total graduates in all
programmes (country data panel)
A006 = Religion important in life (dummy)
Data

 World Value Survey

 Global Education Database
 World Bank
Discussion
A006 - dummy variable
 1 'Very important‘ 1
 2 'Rather important‘ ?
 3 'Not very important‘ 0
 4 'Not at all important'