Essays in Social Economics: On the Resilience of Cultural Traits and the Persistence of Cultural Diversity in Economic Models of Cultural Transmission

Abstract

In this dissertation, which consists of four papers, I discuss questions in the literature on cultural transmission by building upon the work of Bisin and Verdier (2001). Thereby, in the first three papers the main focus of the analysis is on the ability of the discussed economic models of cultural transmission to explain the pervasive empirical evidence of the resilience of cultural traits and of the persistence of cultural diversity, while in the fourth paper I further focus on how the emergence, revival and extinction of cultural traits can be explained. The first paper is titled “Note on ‘The Economics of Cultural Transmission and the Dynamics of Preferences’, Journal of Economic Theory, vol. 97, no. 2, 2001, pp. 298-319, by A. Bisin and T. Verdier”. In this paper, I point out an error in the paper of Bisin and Verdier (2001), suggest a potential remedy, and finally show that the concept of cultural substitution by Bisin and Verdier is not as general as desirable.In the second paper, with the title “The Economics of Cultural Transmission and the Dynamics of Preferences Reconsidered: A new Criterion for the Persistence of Cultural Diversity in Cultural Transmission Models”, I build upon the insights of the first paper and propose a generalized concept of cultural substitution, which I call the concept of “sectional cultural substitution”. As I show, the concept I propose requires quite weak assumptions on the socialization behavior of parents, and much weaker assumptions than the concept of cultural substitution by Bisin and Verdier (2001). Therefore, the concept of sectional cultural substitution is a much more generally applicable criterion for the persistence of cultural diversity than the concept of cultural substitution. Further, while the empirical evidence does not fully support the concept of cultural substitution, the concept of sectional cultural substitution seems to be completely supported.In the third paper, titled “A general Model of Parents’ Influence in Cultural Transmission”, I extend the model of Bisin and Verdier (2001) by assuming that parents are not only able to influence the probability with which their children become directly socialized to their parents’ traits, but additionally also have influence on the socialization of their children through society as a whole. Thereby, the central question is whether the endogenous cultural transmission model introduced by Bisin and Verdier (2001) is able to explain the empirically observed persistence of cultural diversity also under such less restrictive assumptions on the influence of parents on the socialization of their children. As I can show, the qualitative results with respect to the distribution of the cultural traits on the level of the society remain unchanged under broad conditions.Finally, in the fourth paper, with the title “Emergence, Resilience, Extinction and Revival of Cultural Traits: Cultural Transmission and the Dynamics of Preferences under Endogenous Socialization Preferences of Parents”, I develop a general model of cultural transmission under purposeful socialization on the parts of parents by introducing into the model of Bisin and Verdier (2001) the assumption that the utilities that parents derive from children with one versus another trait depend on the cultural composition of the society, and may also change over time. Further, in an extension of the model, I assume that the probabilities, with which children are socialized to a trait during oblique socialization, reflect the children’s overall preferences regarding the adoption of different traits. Thereby, the children’s preferences may depend on both social influences and children’s predispositions, on the parents’ cultural trait, and are allowed to vary over time as well. Together, this model permits to not only explain the enduring resilience of cultural traits, which has been the focus of the theoretical literature on cultural transmission up to date, but also the emergence of new cultural traits, the revival of before rare or extinct cultural traits, and the extinction of cultural traits, potentially after long periods of resilience.Together, the results of this dissertation show that cultural transmission models, in which the transmission of cultural traits to children depends on purposeful socialization on the parts of parents, are able to explain the persistence of cultural diversity and the resilience of cultural traits under much more general conditions than previously known. Above, under less restrictive assumptions on the processes of cultural transmission, such models are even capable of accounting for the emergence, revival and extinction of cultural traits.