Papers

AFD-EUDN 2007

Papers

AFD / EUDN 2007

Does Culture Matter for Development?

Paris, 5. December 2007

Maison de la Chimie

28 bis rue Saint Dominique, 75007 PARIS

Regarding the relationship between culture and development, two radically opposed views are possible. The first view asserts that culture may block development and, unless cultural changes take place, the societies concerned will prove unable to go ahead. The second view, on the contrary, contends that cultural traits are essentially malleable and adapt to more fundamental determinants such as technological and economic factors. Of course, these adjustments are not instantaneous by the very definition of what is a cultural trait –a value, a belief or a norm that structures the way of understanding the world and the relations among people that is transmitted through a socialization process.

In between these two extreme views, there is room for another approach that lays emphasis on the feedback effects and self-reinforcing relations between culture and development, and on the possibility of different development paths or trajectories depending on the peculiar history of human societies and the manner in which it is embedded into existing institutions. There then arises the question as to how policy makers could intervene to accelerate economic progress and cultural change when the two are interrelated forces driving societies.

Theme 1: Religion and development

Main speaker :	Timur Kuran (Duke University) : Economic Underdevelopment in the Middle East : Historical Roles of Culture, Institutions, and Religion. <Télécharger le powerpoint>
Discussants :	Mona Makram-Ebeid (American University of Cairo) Pierre-Joseph Laurent (Université Catholique de Louvain)

Theme 2: Ethnicity, family and social struggles

Speakers :

Eliana La Ferrara (University of Bocconi, Milan) : Family and Kinship Ties in Development: An Economist’s Perspective. <Télécharger le powerpoint>
Jean-François Bayart (FASOPO, Paris) : Culture et développement : les luttes sociales font-elles la différence ?
Rohini Somanathan (University of Delhi, India) : The Demand for Disadvantage, <Télécharger le powerpoint>

Theme 3: Culture and poverty

Main speaker :	Michael Walton (Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University et Centre for Policy Research, Delhi) : Culture matters for poverty, but not because of a culture of poverty <Télécharger le powerpoint>
Discussants :	Stutti Khemani (World Bank, Development Research Group) : Comments on Michael Walton’s “Culture matters for poverty, but not because of a culture of poverty”, <Télécharger le powerpoint> Stéphanie Mahieu (European University Institute, Firenze) : Comments on Michael Walton’s “Culture matters for poverty, but not because of a culture of poverty”