I investigate the consequences of long-run persistency of a society’s preferences for cultural goods. Historical cultural activity is approximated with the frequency of births of music composers during the Renaissance and is linked with contemporary measures of cultural activity in Italian...

I investigate the consequences of long-run persistence of a societies’ preference towards cultural goods. Historical cultural activity is approximated with the frequency of births of classical composers during the Renaissance and is linked with contemporary supply of cultural activities in...

International competitiveness is a main source of economic advancement which results in higher standards of living. This paper examines the determinants of international competitiveness as it defines international competitiveness and discusses two common conceptions that are required to achieve...

I investigate the consequences of long-run persistence of a societies’ preference towards cultural goods. Historical cultural activity is approximated with the frequency of births of classical composers during the Renaissance and is linked with contemporary supply of cultural activities in...

The objective of the first part of this study is to confirm Alexis de Tocqueville's assertion that “Even the most favorable geographic locations and the best laws cannot maintain a constitution in despite of mores.” A synthetic index of progressive social values taken from the World Values...

Economic development generally implies that traditional egalitarian norms and beliefs are replaced by modern individualistic values. Particularly when opportunities for advancement are unequally presented to people, this transformation may be accompanied by polarization and violent conflict. We...

The role of a person's identity and sense of integration into society as instruments of economic development has been vastly underestimated in the literature in economics. We talk of policies to subsidize the poor and give direct support to alleviate poverty. But in the long run, what is...

Much of economics is built on the assumption of individuals being driven by nothing but self-interest; and economic development is viewed as an outcome of the free play of such individuals. On the few occasions that economic recognizes the role of trust, integrity, in-group cooperation and...

Decentralization is commonly advocated as a means to improve primary services and hence accelerate social development. Although theory supports this position, empirical evidence is ambiguous. This paper examines whether local governance can improve social development empirically, with detailed...