Cultural Values and Economic Development: A Review and Assessment of Recent Studies

Abstract

Growing interest and controversy regarding the role of cultural values in economic world has been observed in recent years. This paper investigates recent studies regarding the effect of culture on economic growth and development. The independence of an individual could be down played by any sort of continuity and concession to the economic success. It is pertinent to view Western concept of tradition/modernity framework which advocates rejection of traditional cultural structures of developing world to access ‘modernity’. However, empirical research indicates the both enormous change in cultural values and the persistence of idiosyncratic cultural traditions even within “developed countries”. Similarly, various studies have contended that so-called “modern societies” are themselves entrenched in explicit cultures, although their institutions are following “universal” principles. They demonstrate that “the existence of such cultural continuity does not prevent a succession of forms of social organization in the same country that are different from each other in many respects”.  It is a matter of fact that causality is a difficult issue, nevertheless, confirmation is progressively in favor of a causal effect from the economic condition to cultural interpretations. Subsequently, the enormous challenge for economic growth and development still needs to view our comprehension that how the varied culture or social organization conversion in a particular given society is pronounced with more strong and resilient reference settings.