Crops, Culture and Complexity

This study shows that traditional farming practices have a persistent effect on shaping cultural traits that influence modern‐day economic complexity. Societies with a legacy of growing more labour‐intensive crops tend to develop interdependence, creating a culture of collectivism. Conversely, societies with a history of farming less labour‐intensive crops tend to develop independent traits, leading to a culture of individualism. The dichotomy in these farming legacies gives rise to the individualism–collectivism cleavage, which may explain variation in the level of economic complexity. Using information on land suitability to construct measures of individualism‐ and collectivism‐enhancing environments, this paper finds that societies with a more individualist orientation tend to develop stronger innovative capabilities. This enables them to produce and export a wide range of sophisticated products, resulting in a high level of economic complexity. However, societies imbued with collectivistic cultures tend to have a less complex economic structure.