The Role of Culture in Economic Development

Hezel, Francis X. (2009-06-01). [www.micsem.org The Role of Culture in Economic Development]. Micronesian Counselor (Report). Kolonia, Pohnpei: Micronesian Seminar. pp. 1–10.

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Abstract: “The world is flat,” Thomas Friedman has famously declared. His claim is that in this modern age of globalization, when capital can cross national borders so easily, when investment funds can be pulled from one country to another instantaneously to respond to new business opportunities, economic development is attainable in the most surprising of places. Today, as never before in the past, economic growth should be within the reach of any country anywhere in the globe.

All that is required for the golden fruit to flower, it would seem, is to have the door open to investment and the phone at hand. Naturally, there are conditions to be met to attract investment dollars (or yuan or yen or Euros or pesos). But given a stable government, the assurance that the rule of law will be upheld, and an investor-friendly climate, any country should be a position to become the new Singapore—a nation powered by steady economic growth.

The hitch is that not all needy nations are able to meet these conditions. In some parts of the world, in fact, almost none are--as if some toxic substance in the soil makes it impossible for economies to take root there. But even if most of the primary conditions are met—in other words, the government is responsible and the country has the official welcome mat out for foreign businessmen—there may other factors that make investors shake their heads and walk off with the decision to drop their money somewhere else. Perhaps the world isn’t flat, after all. Possibly there are ingredients for economic development, more far- reaching and subtler than the conditions usually prescribed, that touch on the national ethos and its traditions. In other words, economic development might well be affected by those intangibles that are collectively known as culture..."

Extra details:

DOI: 10.29015/CEREM.95
MAG: 2158518430
CorpusID: 154949494
OpenAlex: W2158518430