Culture and Development

I recently reviewed Eric Jones' Cuture's Merging for the journal Economic Development and Cultural Change.  Jones does an outstanding job of blending relative price adjustments with cultural attitudes to explain processes of economic development through time.

I watched this morning A Conversation with P. T. Bauer, and Bauer states clearly that what determines the economic performance of a country --- whether in Africa or in Asia --- is the effort of the people and the conduct of their government.  Neither natural resources nor foreign aid transfers can cause economic development.  Instead, effort of the people --- their attitudes toward material progress, their work-ethic, the habits and norms that guide their actions --- and the conduct of government --- public policy with respect to property rights, taxation, regulation and monetary and fiscal responsibility --- determine growth and development.