| How Stable is Regional Cultural Variability in Human Cooperation? Evidence from China since the Holocene |
Received:October 13, 2017 Revised:October 13, 2017 |
Key Words: culture, cooperation, regional variation, entrepreneurship |
| Author Name | Affiliation | | Sonja Opper* | Lund University | | Fredrik N.G. Andersson | Lund University |
|
Hits: 557 |
Abstract: |
| Quantitative evidence confirming the inter-temporal stability of behavioural variation is rare, leaving the extent to which past behaviour becomes a cultural convention predicting present-day outcomes of human cooperation untested. We use Chinese provincial data from a variety of archaeological, historical, and economic sources to compile a chain of quantitative evidence on co-operation stretching from the late Holocene to present times. Our results show that differences in regional patterns of human cooperation in China display a high level of inter-temporal continuity connecting historical between-group variation with modern forms of cooperation. Controlling for alternative explanations such as environmental conditions, the revealed stability in differences in human cooperation supports social transmission within cultural groups as a likely causal mechanism driving the evolution of human cooperation towards increasingly complex forms of human exchange. Given the relatively strong persistence of differences our results call for the application of longer analytical timeframes in development and growth theory. |
|
|
|
