An Analysis On The Effects Of Cultural Factors On Regional Economic Development

Ever since the ending of World War â…¡, nearly all LDCs throughout the world have embarked on the path of economic development with industrialization as its goal. After 60 years of effort, however, it has proved difficult to realize the fond dream for most countries, especially the big LDCs. In our country although economic growth has gained some progress, it is far from being even or balanced. In the southeast coastal area, the economy developed rapidly since opening-up and the reform, while the vast middle and western hinterland still lags behind. What is the cause of this discrepancy? In the author's view there exist different cultures across countries and even between different regions of the same country, and it is the cultural difference which accounts for the discrepancies in the performance of economic development in different areas. First of all, centering on the source of economic growth the author made a brief review of development literature , pointing out that modern economic theory has changed from the research of factors of production to non-economic factors such as historical background,social system,culture, etc.This is an important trend indicating that economists have turned their attention to the nature and origin of development as a complex social phenomenon. Based on this conviction, the author made a survey of research findings in traditional culture in China and abroad, and laid down the framework of analysis of this topic. Based on the rethinking of the methodology of development research, the author took the regional culture of Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces as a point of departune and probed into the relation between traditional culture and modern economic growth. In the course of industrialization the endowment of human resources of the western and eastern regions of our country has shown a remarkable difference. What a modern market economy needs is an innovative and adventurous spirit. The author divided traditional culture into two distinct types, i, e.the conservative type of culture and the innovative type. The conservative type of culture is antipathetic to change and modernity while the innovative type of culture is compatible with modernization. This innovative culture is the very origin of entrepreneurship in a changing society. Secondly, according to Joseph Schumpeter's innovation theory and the definition of industrialization which Professor Zhang Peigang put forward, the essance of modern economic growth is a course constantly led by enterpreneurs' innovation. An innovative culture not only determines the formation of the enterpreneurs' stratum of an economy but also has an impact on its technological and systemic innovations. Then the author put forward his idea of a new development model based on innovative culture: this culture determines the amount of entreprenenrs emerging from a country or a region,and they promote modern economic growth through systemic innovation and technological innovation under their impules of innovative spirit while the physical factors of production such as capital,natural resources, and technology etc. are only means of development at their disposal.The latter are superficial elements of economic development,while the former are the real, profound factor lying at the bottom of the whole process. Thirdly, summarizing the experience of Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, the author put up a growth model based on innovative culture. The analysis includes three parts: first, focusing on the formation of the regional culture of these two provinces, the author found out there is an element of innovation rooted in its history and philosophical thought. Second, the traditional culture of this region is especially compatible with the market economy. Since the reform and opeing-up of China the adventurous spirit inherent in this culture has brought up tens of thousands of entrepreneurs in the private sector, thus preparing the human capital for the industrialization of this region. Third, the author showed how the industrialization pattern of this region is based on the innovative spirit inherent in its culture. Their industrialization has actually been launched by the ordinary people. It was initiated and promoted by a host of innovative entrepreneurs and eventually succeeded in realizing the transition from an agricultural to an industrial society through addued technological and systemic innovation. Finally the author concluded that cultural backwardness is a main factor hindering developing countries' economic take-off, and the revolutionary change of traditional culture is an important prerequisite of their growth and development; and pointed out that the traditional, conservative agricultural culture must be transformed into the modern industrial culture before development could achieve success.