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Individualistic values, institutional trust, and interventionist attitudes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 January 2017

HANS PITLIK Open the ORCID record for HANS PITLIK [Opens in a new window]  and
MARTIN RODE
HANS PITLIK*
Affiliation:
Austrian Institute of Economic Research, Vienna, Austria
MARTIN RODE*
Affiliation:
Departamento de Economía, Campus Universitario, 31009, Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain
*
*Email: hans.pitlik@wifo.ac.at
**Email: martinrode@unav.es
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Abstract

A popular explanation for economic development is that ‘individualistic values’ provide a mind-set that is favorable to the creation of growth-promoting institutions. The present paper investigates the relationship between individualistic values and personal attitudes toward government intervention. We consider two key components of an individualistic culture to be particularly relevant for attitude formation: self-direction (‘social’ individualism) and self-determination (‘economic’ individualism). Results indicate that both are negatively associated with interventionist attitudes. Effects of self-direction are much weaker though, than self-determination. Moreover, the effects of self-direction are mitigated through higher trust in the state and lower confidence in companies, while that is not the case for self-determination values. We conclude that especially economic individualism supports attitudes conducive to the formation of formal market-friendly institutions.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Institutional Economics , Volume 13 , Issue 3 , September 2017 , pp. 575 - 598
Copyright
Copyright © Millennium Economics Ltd 2017 

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