Culture in Economics
History, Methodological Reflections and Contemporary Applications

Shows how economists address values and norms in theory and empirical research, highlighting opportunities and challenges for the future.

Sjoerd Beugelsdijk (Author), Robbert Maseland (Author)

9781107684614, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 30 January 2014

410 pages, 3 b/w illus. 12 tables
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.1 cm, 0.55 kg

'A new literature in economics has rediscovered fundamental insights in sociology and is using them to address long standing economic problems. This book does a superb job in placing this new line of research in a broader context, explaining its deep roots and how it opens up fundamental methodological issues. A very timely book that will have a lasting impact on one of the most exciting areas of research in the social sciences.' Guido Tabellini, Professor of Economics, Bocconi University

Many economists now accept that informal institutions and culture play a crucial role in economic outcomes. Driven by the work of economists like Nobel laureates Douglass North and Gary Becker, there is an important body of work that invokes cultural and institutional factors to build a more comprehensive and realistic theory of economic behavior. This book provides a comprehensive overview of research in this area, sketching the main premises and challenges faced by the field. The first part introduces and explains the various theoretical approaches to studying culture in economics, going back to Smith and Weber, and addresses the methodological issues that need to be considered when including culture in economics. The second part of the book then provides readers with a series of examples that show how the cultural approach can be used to explain economic phenomena in four different areas: entrepreneurship, trust, international business and comparative corporate governance.

List of figures
List of tables
List of textboxes
Prologue
Part I. Historical and Methodological Reflections on Culture in Economics: 1. Defining culture
2. How culture disappeared from economics
3. Explaining the rise of culture in modern economics
4. Culture in economics: contemporary theoretical perspectives
5. A methodological perspective on culture in economics
Part II. Applications of Culture in Contemporary Economics: Introduction to Part II
6. Entrepreneurial culture
7. Trust
8. International business
9. Comparative corporate governance
Part III. Evaluation: 10. Discussion
References
Index.

Subject Areas: Economic history [KCZ], Political economy [KCP], Economics, finance, business & management [K], Society & culture: general [JF]