Bring the background forward: Evidence from Indian country on the social and cultural determinants of economic development.

摘要

A growing body of cross-disciplinary theorizing and research in the social sciences considers the important role of socio-cultural factors in economic development. But often, the work is compromised by two critical problems. The first is lack of linkage between micro-level behavioral observations and macro-level correlations; there is little evidence that the influence of socio-cultural factors on economic development observed in case study research is ubiquitous enough to drive economy-wide correlations between socio-cultural factors and the path of economic development. The second problem is one of quantification; socio-cultural factors are relatively easy to identify in case studies, but difficult to identify, code, and measure for use in larger sample work. This problem, which particularly plagues measures of "social capital," must be addressed if research is to proceed from storytelling to firm empirical results.;This thesis begins to address exactly these issues. Using a generalized rational choice approach (in which socio-cultural variables are allowed to enter side-by-side with economic and political-institutional influences on human behavior), it examines specific opportunities for socio-cultural factors to influence industry-level outcomes, and thus, it tackles questions of economic development and growth at an intermediate level. The chapters consider the possible role that socio-cultural factors might have played in American Indian nations' participation in the bingo industry, in the performance of Indian forestry enterprises, and in the success of Native housing development organizations and, together, provide evidence that two common postulates about the ways socio-cultural forces might affect industry outcomes are true: They establish preferences, and they regulate individual behavior by providing informal governance. By relying on data about American Indian nations within the greater boundaries of the United States, the thesis is able to tackle problems concerning the identification and quantification of socio-cultural differences. In particular, it proposes and tests several variables (data on the extent of Native language use and on rules specifying the blood quantum necessary for tribal citizenship) that, alone or in combination, may proxy for tribes' social capital. While much work on the issues of quantification and measurement remains, these variables appear to be a good start in the American Indians context.