Individualistic values, institutional trust, and interventionist attitudes

Arbeitspapier

Ever since Max Weber (1930) uncovered the cultural origins of capitalism, a common denominator for explanations of economic development is that "individualistic values" provide a more favourable background for promoting the wealth of nations. This paper investigates the impact of individualist values on personal attitudes towards government intervention, as a potential link of culture and formal institutions. We consider two key components of an "individualistic culture" to be particularly relevant for attitude formation, namely values related to self-direction and self-determination. Results indicate that both elements of individualistic values are associated negatively with interventionist preferences. Interestingly, effects of self-direction values on intervention attitudes are much weaker though, than the effects of a strong belief in self-determination. Moreover, the effects of self-direction on intervention preferences are mitigated through higher trust in state actors and lower confidence in major companies, while that does not appear to be the case for self-determination values.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: WIFO Working Papers ; No. 515

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Analysis of Collective Decision-Making: General ; Positive Analysis of Policy Formulation and Implementation ; Structure and Scope of Government: General ; Regulation and Industrial Policy: General
• Subject: individualism ; self-direction ; self-determination ; government intervention ; institutional trust ; preference formation

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Pitlik, Hans ; Rode, Martin
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Austrian Institute of Economic Research (WIFO)
• (where): Vienna
• (when): 2016

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/156663
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:43 AM CET