Cultural Diversity, Geographical Isolation, and the Origin of the Wealth of Nations

No 6319, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: This research argues that variations in the interplay between cultural assimilation and cultural diffusion have played a significant role in giving rise to differential patterns of economic development across the globe. Societies that were geographically less vulnerable to cultural diffusion benefited from enhanced assimilation, lower cultural diversity, and more intense accumulation of society-specific human capital. Thus, they operated more efficiently with respect to their production-possibility frontiers and flourished in the technological paradigm that characterized the agricultural stage of development. The lack of cultural diffusion and its manifestation in cultural rigidity, however, diminished the ability of these societies to adapt to a new technological paradigm, which delayed their industrialization and, hence, their take-off to a state of sustained economic growth. The theory thus contributes to the understanding of the advent of divergence and overtaking in the process of development. Consistently with the theory, the empirical analysis establishes that (i) geographical isolation prevalent in pre-industrial times (i.e., prior to the advent of airborne transportation technology) has had a persistent negative impact on the extent of contemporary cultural diversity; (ii) pre-industrial geographical isolation had a positive impact on economic development in the agricultural stage but has had a negative impact on income per capita in the course of industrialization; and (iii) cultural diversity, as determined exogenously by pre-industrial geographical isolation, has had a positive impact on economic development in the process of industrialization.

Keywords: cultural assimilation; cultural diffusion; cultural diversity; geographical isolation; economic development; agriculture; industrialization (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O11 O13 O14 O31 O33 O41 O43 O50 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 94 pages
Date: 2012-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dev
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
https://docs.iza.org/dp6319.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: Cultural Diversity, Geographical Isolation, and the Origin of the Wealth of Nations (2011)
Working Paper: Cultural Diversity, Geographical Isolation, and the Origin of the Wealth of Nations (2011)
Working Paper: Cultural Diversity, Geographical Isolation, and the Origin of the Wealth of Nations (2011)
Working Paper: Cultural Diversity, Geographical Isolation, and the Origin of the Wealth of Nations (2011)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6319

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
IZA, Margard Ody, P.O. Box 7240, D-53072 Bonn, Germany

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA) IZA, P.O. Box 7240, D-53072 Bonn, Germany. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Holger Hinte ().