Cultural and Institutional Differences at the National and Regional Levels

Bagrat Yerznkyan

doi:10.11648/j.ijefm.20180604.11

Abstract

Culture and institutions are two related phenomena contributing to economic performance. Culture is transmitted via teaching and imitation, while institutions, especially informal ones, come from socially transformed information and as such they are close to culture. The purpose of this paper is to examine the cultural and institutional issues of economic development with emphasis on their differences which may play a key role in understanding the very nature of socio-economic development. In a paper, the influence of culture and institutions on the socio-economic development in relation to the stationary (developed) economy as well as to the non-stationary (developing, transitional) economy is discussed. In addition, varieties of economic systems are considered. Main conclusions: (1) National specificity is superimposed on genetics: on the whole, Western civilizations with their inherent two-valued logic of thinking and the dominance of open access orders in society are more prone to economic exchanges – transactions, while Eastern civilizations, with their multi-valued logic and limited access orders, on the contrary, are more prone to social exchange processes – interactions. (2) The restructuring of the world in American terms is ontologically meaningless and conceptually erroneous, because of universality of the requirement of an inordinate consideration of national characteristics – taking into account that even in the USA the coexistence of heterogeneous political subcultures is a reality that cannot be ignored. (3) The relevance of culture and institutions are of particular importance in reforming the economy. As shows the Russian reforms, political factors, with uncritical import of formal institutions, rather than economic ones played a significantly greater role in changing its trajectory of development.

Highlights

Culture and InstitutionsCulture and institutions are two related phenomena contributing to economic performance (Yerznkyan et al, 2017 [1])
National specificity is superimposed on genetics: on the whole, Western civilizations with their inherent two-valued logic of thinking and the dominance of open access orders in society are more prone to economic exchanges – transactions, while Eastern civilizations, with their multivalued logic and limited access orders, on the contrary, are more prone to social exchange processes – interactions
The roots of these subcultures go into opposition to the "marketplace" and the commonwealth", with more or less pronounced regional localization (Wirt, 1991, p. 4 [20])

Summary

Introduction

Culture and institutions are two related phenomena contributing to economic performance (Yerznkyan et al, 2017 [1]). A basic typology of economic systems includes a notion of system as: object (a part of the external world, which exists outside a person), environment (a more or less homogenous matter filling space), process (a cyclical pattern of a phenomenon’s development) and project (a sequence of steps aimed at achieving a specific goal within a specified time period). They are the most significant and widely researched part of economic phenomena and systems but, exhaust the variety of their types

National Specificity of Culture and Institutions

Regional Sub-Cultures

Culture and Institutions in Reforming the Economy

Findings

Conclusion