Abstract:
The effect of cultural values on the operation of markets tends to be overlooked
in economic theory. Western theory assumes a utility maximizing economic agent,
which may be consistent with Western culture, but is foreign to many other peoples.
This study is an exploration of the impact of cultural values, as commercial ethics, on
economic distribution.
The theory and literature is briefly reviewed and a pilot experiment described.
The experiment involved a six-sector economy that was operated within two cultural
paradigms. The two paradigms approximated to Western individualism and preindustrial
traditional culture following Tiinnies's concepts of Gesellschaft and
Gemeinschaft respectively.
The pilot study revealed that the Gesellschaft economy was more attractive to
most members of the economy and returned short-term benefits, but it generally underperformed
the Gemeinschaft economy for most sectors in the longer term. The behaviour
of the land sector was especially significant.
The Discussion includes linkages to historical and anthropological findings
and makes suggestions for further research. The experiment raises important
methodological issues regarding the nature of economic agents and positivist
epistemology. These are dealt with including pedagogical and future research
implications.
