Culture and Institutions: Economic Development in the Regions of Europe
利用19世纪末识字率和历史政治制度作为工具变量，研究发现欧洲地区文化（如信任、尊重他人、自信）对当前经济发展有因果影响。
Does culture have a causal effect on economic development? The data on European regions\nsuggest that it does. Culture is measured by indicators of individual values and beliefs, such\nas trust and respect for others, and confidence in individual self-determination. To isolate the\nexogenous variation in culture, I rely on two historical variables used as instruments: the\nliteracy rate at the end of the XIXth century, and the political institutions in place over the\npast several centuries. The political and social history of Europe provides a rich source of\nvariation in these two variables at a regional level. The exogenous component of culture due\nto history is strongly correlated with current regional economic development, after controlling\nfor contemporaneous education, urbanization rates around 1850 and national effects.\nMoreover, the data do not reject the over-identifying assumption that the two historical\nvariables used as instruments only influence regional development through culture. The\nindicators of culture used in this paper are also strongly correlated with economic\ndevelopment and with available measures of institutions in a cross-country setting.