Does Culture Matter 2011 Raquel Fernández.pdf

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CHAPTER1111
DoesCultureMatter?
RaquelFernández
NewYorkUniversity,CEPR,NBER,IZA
Contents








‘swork,fertility,andgenderpreferences497
,politicalengagement,andlabormarketregulation499
,redistribution,andviolence501
-countrymigration:shirkingandfinancialparticipation503


Acknowledgement508
References508
Abstract
Thispaperreviewstheliteratureoncultureandeconomics,focusingprimarilyonthe



onetoseparatetheeffectofculturefromtheoriginaleconomicandinstitutional
,includingfemalelabor
forceparticipaiton,fertility,labormarketregulation,redistribution,growth,andfinancial
developmentamongothers.
JELNos:O10,Z1,D01,D1
Keywords
Culture
Beliefs
Preferences
Norms
HandbookofSocialEconomics,Volume1A#.
ISSN0169-7218,DOI:-7218(11)01011-:.
482RaquelFernández


ways:fromdifferentchoicesofredistributivepoliciesandsocialsecurityprovisionstodiffer-
encesinaggregateoutcomessuchasaveragesavingsrates,fertilityrates,orwomen’spartic-
-countryopinionpolls,social
,acrosscountriespeopleholddifferentviewsof,forexample,
therolethatluckversusmeritplaysingeneratingincome,thedegreeofsocialobligation
onehastowardsothers,
socialattitudestendtobecorrelatedwiththedifferencesincross-countryeconomicout-
,countriesinwhichpeoplevaluethriftalsotendtohavehighersavings
,Sapienza,andZingales(2006)findthataone-standard-deviationincreasein
theshareofpeoplewhovaluethriftinessisassociatedwithanincreaseinthenationalsaving
,countriesthatholdamoretraditionalviewof
women’sroletendtohavelowerfemalelaborforceparticipationandhigherfertility.
Forexample,usingattitudedatafromtheWorldValueSurvey(WVS),onefindsthat
thepercentageofindividualsinacountrythatthinkthathouseworkisasfulfillingashav-
ingajobisnegativelyandsignificantlycorrelatedwithfemalelaborforceparticipation
(LFP),countriesinwhichpeopletendtothinkthatluckplays

Angeletos(2005)showthattheshareofrespondentsineachcountrywhobelievethat
luckdeterminesincomeishighlycorrelatedwiththatcountry’sspendinginsocialwelfare
asaproportionofGDP.
Isthecorrelationbetweensocialattitudesandeconomicoutcomesdueentirelyto
economicandinstitutionaldifferencesacrosssocietiesorarepotentiallysystematicdif-
ferencesinsocialbeliefsplayingacausalrole?Moregenerally,whatroledodifferences
inthedistributionofsocialpreferencesandbeliefs(whatIwillhenceforthcallculture)
playinexplainingthevariationineconomicoutcomesbeitatthelevelofcountries,
socialgroups(.,ethnicorsocioeconomicgroups),orovertime?
Foralongperiodoftime,questionsregardingtheroleofcultureineconomic

theabsenceofanempiricalmethodologythatwouldallowonetoinvestigatethisissue.
Inparticular,itreflectedthedifficultyinfindinganapproachthatwascapableofdistin-
guishingtheeffectsofculturefromthoseoftheeconomicandinstitutionalenvironment

countries,forexample,arisebecausetheyhaddifferenteconomicandinstitutionalenvir-
onmentsorbecausesocialattitudesweredifferent?Standardapproachestothisquestion,
suchastheuseofcross-countryregressionsonalargevarietyofvariablesthataremeant
1ThisiscalculatedfromanswerstosurveyquestionsfromtheWorldValueSurvey.
2ThesecalculationusedatafromtheWVSandfromtheOECDasreportedinFerna´ndez(2007b).:.
DoesCultureMatter?483
tocaptureeconomicandinstitutionaldifferencesacrosscountries,identifyculturewith
,thisapproachisfraughtwithproblemsofomittedvari-
ablesandendogeneity,compoundedbymismeasurement.
Inthelastdecadetherehavebeenavarietyofnewapproachesthatprovidemore

casestudiesthathaveattemptedtouse“naturalexperiments”toidentifytheeffectof
culture(.,BotticiniandEckstein(2005)orGreif(1994)).Someevidencehasbeen
providedbyexperimentsshowingthat,onaverage,individualsfromdifferentsocial
groupsplaydifferentstrategiesingamessuchasthedictatorgameorpublicgoodsgame
(,Boyd,Bowles,Camerer,Fehr,Gintis,andMcElreath(2001)).Better
instrumentsforculturehavealsostrengthenedthecaseinfavorofculture’simpact
oneconomicoutcomes(see,(2010)andGuiso,Sapienza,andZingales
(2004)).Finally,alargeportionofevidencehascomefromfollowingwhatIhave
called“theepidemiologicalapproach”(seeFerna´ndez(2008))towhichthischapter

theenvironmentbystudyingtheoutcomesofindividualswhoseculturespotentially
differ,butinacommoneconomicandinstitutionalsetting.
Thischapterwillprimarilyfocusontheepidemiologicalapproachtoculture
althoughsomeoftheexperimentalandhistoricalevidencewillalsobereviewed.
AchapterbyGuiso,SapienzaandZingalesinthishandbookprovidesamorethorough
reviewoftheliteraturethatusesinstrumentalvariables,particularlyforunderstanding
socialcapital,andFerna´ndez(2008)
chapterisorganizedasfollows:thenextsectionprovidesadefinitionaswellassome
historicalevidenceforhowculturesdiffer,andreviewssomeoftheexperimentalliter-


epidemiologicalliteratureandthelastsectionconcludes.

Beforeproceedingwithareviewoftheliteratureoncultureandeconomics,adefini-
tionofcultureisuseful,,wemay
thinkofcultureasabodyofsharedknowledge,understanding,
totheMerriamWebsterDictionary,cultureis:“theintegratedpatternofhuman
knowledge,belief,andbehaviorthatdependsuponthecapacityforlearningandtrans-
mittingknowledgetosucceedinggenerations;”and“thecustomarybeliefs,social
forms,andmaterialtraitsofaracial,religious,orsocialgroup;(and)thesetofshared
attitudes,values,goals,andpracticesthatcharacterizesaninstitutionororganization.”
,KroeberandKluckhohn(1952):.
484RaquelFernández
Economistsmodelindividualsaseconomicagentswhomakechoicesinaneco-
nomicandinstitutionalenvironment,
twohypotheticalsocietiesfacedwithidenticalinstitutionalandeconomicsettings.
Supposethat,despitetheseidenticalenvironments,thesesocietiesendupwithdifferent
outcomes,
liketosaythatthesechoicesdifferedbecausethesesocietiespossesseddifferentcultures,
.,becausetheydifferintheirdistributionsofpreferencesandbeliefsacrossindivi-
,forthepurposesofwhatIwillbediscussing,amoreusefulworkingdefi-
nitionistoconsiderdifferencesincultureassystematicvariationinbeliefsandpreferences
acrosstime,space,orsocialgroups.
Whyshouldsocietiesdifferintheirdistributionsofpreferencesandbeliefs?Thiscan

,
non-identicaloutcomesaresimplytheresultofthedifferentstrategieschosenbyindivi-
,
theagentsacrossthetwosocietiescouldpossessdifferentprioritiesabout,forexample,
thepayoffstovariousactions,whichcouldhaveresultedfromdifferenthistories
(obtained,forexample,fromdifferentrealizationsequencesofaggregateshocks).4
Itmaybeusefultoexplicitlynoteherethatnothinginthisconceptionofculture
considersitaseitherirrational,static,,adefinitionof
culturethatconsidersthelattertobeslow-moving(see,,Sapienza,and
Zingales(2006)5)
socialbeliefsandpreferenceschangeovertime,whichinturndependsontheenviron-
mentbroadlyspeaking,includingtheopportunitieswhichdetermineindividuals’
learningpace,theirinteractionswithothers,andparticularhistoricalexperiences.
Asalientexampleofaculturalchangethatbeganslowandacceleratedconsiderably
(1)
below(fromFerna´ndez(2007a)),beliefsintheUSoftheproprietyofamarried
womanworkingifshehadahusband“capableofsupportingher”evolveddramatically
overthe20thcentury,goingfromunder20%ofthepopulationbeinginfavorofthis
in1936tolessthan20%beingagainstitinthe1990s.
Differenthistoricalexperienceshaveimportantrepercussionsonindividuals’beliefs
-Schundeln(2007),forexample,

authorsstudyGermanattitudestowardstheroleofthestateintwomainareasofsocial
4SeeFerna´ndez(2007a)
societiesobtaineddifferentshocks,thatwouldleadthemtolearnatdifferentratesandwouldgiverisetodifferent
actionsonaverage.
5Guiso,Sapienza,andZingales(2006)definecultureas“thosecustomarybeliefsandvaluesthatethnic,religious,and
socialgroupstransmitfairlyunchangedfromgenerationtogeneration.”:.
DoesCultureMatter?485
1









0
19351940194519501955196019651970197519801985199019952000
Figure1Fractionthatapprovesofwifeworkingifhusbandcansupporther.(DataSource:WVS.)
PicturefromFernández(2007a).
security:theextentofstateprovisiondesiredincaseofunemploymentorillnessand
theextenttowhichthestateshouldprovidefinancialsecurityforfamilies,old-ageor

toreunification,she/heismuchmorelikelytofavorgovernmentprovisionfor
financialsecurityforalloftheareasmentionedabove,aftercontrollingfortraitssuch
asage,educationlevelandtype,gender,numberofchildren,maritalstatus,occupa-
tion,income,
theformerEastorWestGermanyatthetimeofthesurvey.
TheallocationoflandtitlestosquattersinArgentinain1989,asshowninDiTella,
Galiani,andSchargrodsky(2006),likewiseprovidesvividtestimonytothepower


governmentattemptedtoredistributethelandtothesquattersbybuyingit,butnot


viewedasacaseofrandomassignmentandtheyprovideevidencethatthefamilyheads
inthegroupthatreceivedlandtitlesaresimilarinage,gender,educationlevels,and

acrossthetwogroups(thosewithlandtitlesandthosewithout),answerstosurvey
questionsregardingindividualism,materialism,andtru