The effect of cultural factors, networks of voluntary associations, and democratic institutions on economic development - An international comparison [Kulturelle variablen, organisatorische netzwerke und demokratische staatsstrukturen als determinanten der wirtschaftlichen entwicklung - Im internationalen vergleich]

The article focuses on the determinants of economic growth in modern democratic industrial societies. The investigation is led by the idea that the traditional theory of growth must be extended in two directions: towards the micro-level, i.e. towards the field of microeconomic attitudes and values, and towards the macro-level, i.e. towards the field of institutional and political conditions. The study makes an attempt to develop such an integrative perspective and to explain the growth rate in the 1980s and 1990s with cultural, political-institutional and economic factors. Empirical analyses show that economic expansion is limited by three factors: the distribution of post-materialist values, the size of economic interest organizations and consensus forms of democracy. Furthermore, the results confirm the assumption of conditional convergence of economic growth.