Cultural and Social Diversity as an Economic Resource

Abstract

The paper seeks to identify the role of cultural and social diversity in economic development. It starts by defining the terms that are critical to the analysis, including diversity, fractionalization, polarization, social diversity, cultural diversity and economic resources, as well as providing the most significant indexes thereof. The main body of the paper interprets the notions of cultural and social diversity in terms of being a valuable economic resource. Furthermore, it collects a vast body of literature to demonstrate the relationship between the cultural/social diversity and economic development with regard to adverse or positive impact on the latter. In regard to the negative impact of diversity, the paper identifies it in the area of social communication, social capital and networks, as it effectively causes a decrease in productivity and increase in social conflict and isolation. The positive link is demonstrated with examples in the areas of innovation, creativity, usage of complementary abilities and experiences, and their role in increasing productivity. The paper refers to numerous data sources, studies and indexes illustrating how the economic systems of various countries perform in the context of the paper’s subject-matter.