Intercultural Economic Analysis

Since the end of the Cold War, the study of intercultural relations has become one of the most popular topics in the field of global politics and economics. This book presents a methodological framework for the analysis of intercultural issues frequently misinterpreted by existing theories. The book uses a challenge-and-response theory of cultural development to examine the relationship between different natural disasters and threats and the developments of ancient civilizations. The spatial interaction of ancient civilizations is assessed and some theoretical patterns of intercultural influences are presented with a focus on the Chinese, Egyptian, Indus, and Mesopotamian civilizations. Using the development of China as a case study, and on the basis of a simplified spatial model, the optimal spatial structure and size of culture areas are mathematically solved, and the political economy implications to the interactions between cultures differing in size are illustrated. The book also examines various aspects of intercultural economic influences, such as those of culture on international trade. The empirical results suggest that high-income trade partners are less sensitive than low-income trade partners to the measures of cultural dissimilarity which block international trade. The existing literature relating to the determinants of economic growth treats explanatory variables such as income inequality and cultural diversity separately. This book investigates whether there are any conditions under which income inequality and cultural diversity could encourage economic growth and provides evidence from a broad panel of nations, which reveals that economic growth is quite independent from the variables of inequality and cultural (linguistic and religious) diversity. Finally, this book provides suggestions for how cultural influences can benefit developing economies both large and small.

This book presents a methodological framework for the analysis of intercultural issues frequently misinterpreted by existing theories. It uses a challenge-and-response theory of cultural development to examine the relationship between different natural disasters and threats and the developments of ancient civilizations. The spatial interaction of ancient civilizations is assessed; and four non-linear patterns of intercultural dynamics are presented. Our empirical analyses of the four major ancient civilizations (the Mesopotamian, the Egyptian, the Indus, and the Chinese) focus on intercultural influences as well as how they have shaped the spatial dynamics of the world as a whole. This book also examines various aspects of intercultural economic influences, such as those of culture on international trade. Evidence from a broad panel of nations supports the presumption that high-income trade partners will be less sensitive to the measures of cultural dissimilarity than low-income trade partners between which cultural dissimilarity leads to barriers to international trade. The treatment of linguistic and religious factors as continuous variables in this book has improved past studies in which ‘language’ was treated as one or more dummy variables and ‘religion’ was ignored.

This book examines the influences of various cultural factors on economic analyses that could be misrepresented by existing economic theories. Most significantly, the book measures the cultural diversity and bilateral similarity indexes of the existing 200 or more countries and regions, and quantifies their impacts on economic activities.

Since the early 1990s, culture, in the sense of norms and values, has entered economic analysis again, whereas it was totally absent from mainstream economics during most of the second half of the twentieth century. The disappointing results of mainstream economics and developments in the world economy triggered an awareness of the relevance of the context in which people make decisions. Developments which were triggering this were the unexpected high growth rates in Asia, (the Asian miracle), the transition of previously centrally planned economies and the increased attention for the role of religion after 9/11/2001. Some of the areas this research covers are: The history of culture in economics from Adam Smith to the present The way culture is incorporated into economic analysis Methods used in empirical analysis on culture and economics Culture as an explanatory factor of cross-country difference in institutions and performance Culture appears to be relevant for explaining differences between otherwise similar countries; in particular OECD-countries. Uncertainty avoidance, for example, significantly explains the relative importance of financial markets. This book is the first that provides an overview of the field of culture and economics and will be of use to postgraduate researchers in the field of economics and culture.

This review of the literature dealing with management in business in selected countries, and how management is affected by the culture and values of that country attempts to establish a baseline and methodology for developing further empirical studies. The contributors are selected from professional economists and sociologists from the countries discussed. The first part of the work deals with definition of terms and theories that are to be used in the work. The second part of the work deals with individual representative countries in Europe and Latin America, and the third part of the work describes future work needed in the area.

Provides an analytical framework for examining economic issues which arise in international trade negotiations. This framework is developed using examples from current contentious issues in the international trade in agricultural products, including market access, subsidies, non-tariff barriers, health regulations, and biotechnology. There is special emphasis on the issue of genetically modified products. Material is accessible to readers with a solid grasp of basic economic principles. Of interest to academics specializing in international trade, international relations, agri-business, and international business. Gaisford teaches economics at the University of Calgary. Kerr teaches at the University of Saskatchewan. Annotation copyrighted by Book News Inc., Portland, OR

The Basho of Economics refers to the economy's hidden experiential ground, which has never been explicitly scrutinized by mainstream economics. The books uncovers this ground by discerning the tacit presuppositions of classical and neo-classical theories from the perspective of modern Japanese philosophy.

With an impressive array of international contributors from the UK, USA, Sweden and Peru, this book includes chapters on the following: The nature of the multinational enterprise; The theory of the firm; The location of economic activity; Industrial organization; Technology and technological change; the theory of international trade; Monetary policy; The theory of development policy; Wage determination and collective bargaining; Income distribution and welfare considerations and size of firm and size of nation.