Individualism, Collectivism, And The Wealth Of Nations

This article summarizes findings in the contemporary economic literature related to the cultural dimension of individualism-collectivism and its impact on economic growth and development. The relative economic advantages of both types of cultures are being laid out. The channels through which individualist or collectivist self-perception and cultural beliefs influence economic outcomes are most often cited to be behavioral specifics, different institutional development paths, the motivation to compete and innovate, the quality of governance, the implications for economic activity of social capital and insurance networks. As successful economic examples rooted in both types of cultures exist in the past and present, the question which culture will dominate the economic future seems to have a less obvious answer than usually assumed by Western authors in the past decades.