LAZ Simulation Listening Exam 3 – Level B1
Prof. Peter Cullen
Spring 2009
Text
Listen to the following paper by Guiso, Sapienza and Zingales about the role
of culture in economic outcomes.
(From the Social Sciences Research Network: working paper series, January
2006)
By viewing culture as inherited by individuals, we are not denying the possibility that longstanding cultural traditions are the result of a society-wide process (see, for example, the economic
analysis of dowries in Botticini and Siow, 2003). We are simply saying that culture is not continually
altered in step with the changes that individuals experience during their lifetimes. Emigrants from
southern, low-trust, regions in Italy, for instance, tend to carry with them their mistrust to their new
locations (Guiso, Sapienza, and Zingales, 2004a). Similarly, people who are raised religiously exhibit
some common beliefs and preferences, even if they reject religion as adults (Guiso, Sapienza and
Zingales, 2003).
Why do some cultural influences change so slowly (Roland, 2005)? While a full answer is
outside the scope of this work, we propose three explanations. First, parents have a natural tendency to
teach their children what they have learned from their own parents, without a full reassessment of the
current optimality of those beliefs (Bisin and Verdier, 2000). An example of this persistence is the
Mursi people’s tradition that women wear large lip ornaments made of terracotta that disfigure their lips
and force them to remove some of their frontal teeth. While today’s Mursi have lost the reason for this
tradition (some claim it was introduced to make women less interesting to slave traders; see Gordon,
2003), it is still maintained to this day. Thus, even if cultural norms were efficient when they were
introduced, they might continue to be taught even after they have become inefficient (Grusec and
Kuczynski, 1997).
Second, organizations that play a role promoting culture – including state, church, and academia
- might have a vested interest in promoting the continuation of any beliefs that provide them with rents.
Universities, for example, are pushed to produce skill-oriented rather than theory-oriented courses in
order to compete with the private professional development training market. They are fighting to
maintain their relevance in society.
Finally, some cultural norms may produce lesser outcomes in terms of economic output, but
greater outcomes in terms of higher fertility, and such norms can become more widespread in the
population despite their economic inefficiency.
Whatever the explanation for the delayed adjustment process of culture, this process enables us
to use deeper aspects of culture like the ethnic origin or the religious denomination as variables and thus
reduce the risks of the reverse causality problem in analyses that explore the impact of culture on
economic outcomes.
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LAZ Simulation Listening Exam 3 – Level B1
Spring 2008
______/30
Prof. Peter Cullen
___________________________________________
Name, Date, and Registration Number
Questions: You do not have to use complete sentences! This is a listening exam.
SIMPLE AND CORRECT IS BETTER THAN COMPLICATED AND WRONG.
1. What do the authors say DOES not continually alter culture?
2. What is the first reason given for the SLOW process of change in cultural
influences?
3. What have the Mursi people lost?
4. Why might institutions play a role in promoting culture?
5. What does the delayed adjustment process of culture allow these researchers to
do?
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True or False: Write “True” or “False” in the space next to each statement
1. The authors do not think culture is the product of a society-wide process.
________________
2. People who are raised religiously have common beliefs even if they later reject religion.
________________
3. Mursi lip decoration made Mursi women more interesting to slave traders.
________________
4. Universities compete with private sector training courses.
________________
5. All cultural norms are aimed at increasing fertility.
________________
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LAZ Simulation Listening Exam 3 – Level B1
Prof. Peter Cullen
Spring 2009
Answer Sheet
1. What What do the authors say DOES not continually alter culture?
We are simply saying that culture is not continually altered in step with the changes that
individuals experience during their lifetimes.
2. What is the first reason given for the SLOW process of change in cultural
influences?
parents have a natural tendency to teach their children what they have learned from their own
parents, without a full reassessment of the current optimality of those beliefs .
3. What have the Mursi people lost?
The reason for their tradition of terracotta lip ornaments.
4. Why might institutions play a role in promoting culture?
They might have a vested interest in promoting the continuation of any beliefs that provide them
with rents.
5. What does the delayed adjustment process of culture allow these researchers to
do?
This process enables us to use deeper aspects of culture like the ethnic origin or the religious
denomination as variables and thus reduce the risks of the reverse causality problem in analyses
that explore the impact of culture on economic outcomes.
True or False: Write “True” or “False” in the space next to each statement
1
2
3
4
5
F
T
F
T
F
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