Cultural Values, Diversity and Economic Growth in South Asian Region

Abstract

This study represents an attempt at measuring the impact of certain cultural factors on economic growth in South Asian region. Cultural factors are incorporated into  baseline  endogenous  economic  growth  model  applied by  using relevant data  from  the  World  Values Survey/European Value Survey (1981-20014). By using the ordinary least squares method in a growth regression framework, we have determined the impact of cultural factors on economic growth by estimating certain equations. The results have shown that cultural attitudes towards trust have positive and significant impact on economic growth. The surprising results are evident that ethnic fractionalization and religious fraction both have significant positive relation with economic growth in this region.