Readers of the latest Commentary have the chance to read an exchange between Nicholas Eberstadt and William Easterly on the ongoing problems associated with global poverty. (Here?s the subscriber link.)
Among the friendly criticisms Easterly offers to Eberstadt is the following note on the impact of culture on poverty:
Nick is right to raise culture as a central, long-run determinant of development; I and many other economists frankly had to change our minds after reviewing new research on this. However, which cultural values matter and where do they come from? The fundamental values are more likely to be those that respect individual rights and freedoms, much more so than the work and thrift values stressed by Nick; the latter likely follow from the former. After all, why save and work hard when your rights against theft or expropriation are not respected? We have a good natural experiment on this?people who appear to be lazy and spendthrift in their impoverished and unfree home countries become remarkably hard-working and high-saving after they immigrate to a free society like the U.S. (Just ask your Ghanaian cab driver sending his daughter to medical school?at least that was what the last one I met was doing.) It?s the rarity of the values of individual freedom around the world that is the most likely explanation for the continued rarity of prosperity.
If the topic interests you, please read a synopsis (or watch the full video below) of Easterly?s 2009 Pope Lecture at N.C. State University.
