Culture
In
The Wealth and Poverty of Nations: Why Some Are So Rich and Some So Poor,
Harvard University economic historian David S. Lands maintains that the reasons
for different development rates were cultural. Lands admits that tropical
regions like sub-Saharan Africa were bound to develop slowly because it was too
hot for people to work during the day at certain times of the year, while
temperate regions like Europe offered cooler conditions more suitable to
productive activities like growing food and raising cattle.
Yet,
says Lands, cultural factors such as religion have powerfully affected the pace
of development. “If we learn anything from the history of economic
development,” he says, “it is that culture makes all the difference.” In the
year 1000, he says, no one would have predicted that Europe would dominate the
world 500 years later. But starting in the 1500s, the Protestant form of
Christianity promoted both literacy and concern for conservation of time, and
both of these attributes led to higher productivity in societies such as
Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, and, later, the United States. Likewise, in
China and Japan, Buddhist beliefs emphasized labor and thrift, which led to
faster social and economic development.
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