Dr. Petros Milionis (University of Groningen) ''Geography, Agricultural Suitability and Diversity in Cultural Values."

Abstract:

We empirically investigate how historical patterns of agriculture have shaped contemporary diversity in cultural values in different parts of the world. We provide systematic evidence that regions of the world characterized by greater spatial variation in suitability of land for agriculture exhibit greater diversity in cultural values. We document this pattern for a broad range of cultural values both across countries and across regions within countries. This pattern is visible even when we control for ethnolinguistic and other dimensions of societal diversity, and is robust to the potential endogeneity of agricultural conditions to economic development. We also demonstrate the relevance of the hypothesized mechanism, that relates to variation in cultivation patterns of different crops, relative to other mechanisms that relate variation in cultural values with geographic conditions. Our findings provide broader support for the agricultural origins of contemporary variation in cultural values. Unlike previous contributions to this literature, though, we focus not on the prevalence of particular cultural values, such as individualism, long-term orientation or egalitarian gender norms, but on interpersonal diversity in such values within a given geographic entity. Our findings, thus, suggest that the link between geography and culture may be more general than previously understood.