Divergent Developmental Paths
Divergent Developmental Paths
This chapter explores how culture affected economic development in the United States, Argentina, and Brazil. In particular, it the influence of culture on perceptions of individuality, power, and risk. It first considers why different developmental paths emerged in North America and Latin America, particularly in relation to the cultures of the original settlers: Iberia and England. It argues that Argentina's concentration of landholdings gave rise to the political and economic systems that favor absentee farmers. As a result, the concept of rural mortgage credit was never adequately developed, constraining investment in agriculture as well as the scale of the agricultural machinery market and thus hampering the development of a domestic machinery industry. On the other hand, Brazil inherited an inward-looking culture that, coupled with land-and power-concentration proclivities, resulted in an ineffective judiciary and a middle class that is unsure of its worth and meek when competing abroad for acceptance of intellectual products like software.
Keywords: culture, economic development, United States, Argentina, Brazil, landholdings, mortgage credit, agriculture, judiciary, middle class
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