CULTURAL ENDOWMENTS AND ECONOMIC-DEVELOPMENT - IMPLICATIONS FOR THE CHINESE ECONOMIES

In this paper, I first review the pattern model that Yujiro Hayami and I have employed to map the general equilibrium relationships among re source endowments, cultural endowments, technology, and institutions. I then provide a brief review of scholarship in modern development eco nomics of the role of cultural endowments in economic development. In a final section, I turn to the issues raised by the current interest i n the role of cultural endowments in the economic development of the E ast Asian economies. Taking culture into account is analogous to takin g resource endowments into account. But it is exceedingly important to avoid either a resource or a cultural determinist explanation.