Culture Rules: The Foundations of the Rule of Law and Other Norms of Governance
50 Pages Posted: 25 Sep 2007
There are 2 versions of this paper
Culture Rules: The Foundations of the Rule of Law and Other Norms of Governance
Abstract
This study presents evidence about relations between national culture and social institutions. We operationalize culture with data on cultural dimensions for some 50 nations adopted from cross-cultural psychology and generate testable hypotheses about three basic social norms of governance: the rule of law, corruption, and democratic accountability. These norms correlate systematically and strongly with national scores on cultural dimensions and also differ across cultural regions of the world. Using a linguistic variable on pronoun drop as an instrument for cultural emphases on autonomy versus embeddedness points to a significant influence of culture on governance. Using cultural profiles of a previous generation as an instrument indicates relative stability of cultural orientations and of their correlates. The results suggest a framework for understanding the relations between fundamental institutions.
Keywords: culture, social institutions, governance, rule of law, corruption, democracy
JEL Classification: K00, O10, O19, P20, P26, P50, Z13
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?
Recommended Papers
-
The Role of Social Capital in Financial Development
By Luigi Guiso, Paola Sapienza, ...
-
The Role of Social Capital in Financial Development
By Luigi Guiso, Paola Sapienza, ...
-
Does Culture Affect Economic Outcomes?
By Luigi Guiso, Paola Sapienza, ...
-
Does Culture Affect Economic Outcomes?
By Luigi Guiso, Paola Sapienza, ...
-
Does Culture Affect Economic Outcomes?
By Luigi Guiso, Paola Sapienza, ...
-
People's Opium? Religion and Economic Attitudes
By Luigi Guiso, Paola Sapienza, ...
-
People's Opium? Religion and Economic Attitudes
By Luigi Guiso, Paola Sapienza, ...
-
People's Opium? Religion and Economic Attitudes
By Luigi Guiso, Paola Sapienza, ...