Abstract

ARGANDONA, André; IBANEZ, Ariel  and  SEOANE, Martin. A first approach to the Determinants of the Capitalist Spirit in Bolivia. rlde [online]. 2018, n.30, pp.51-86. ISSN 2074-4706.

The present paper considers the subjective discount rate (ρ) as proxy of the Weberian notion 'capitalist spirit' and explores some of its determinants in the case of a representative sample of Bolivian university students. ANOVA models are estimated to explain ρ in terms of the religious affiliation of individuals and their participation in popular cultural activities such as patron saint festivals, prestes and folk festivals. The results of the estimates show that individuals who identify themselves as Protestants and/or who do not participate in those popular cultural activities have a lower ρ respect to people who identify themselves as Catholic and/or participate in the cultural activities described. Therefore, we conclude that, in this case, religion and cultural practices have an important role in the formation of the 'capitalist spirit' and we emphasize the importance of ρ to incorporate subjective factors in growth models.

Keywords : Subjective discount rate; capitalist spirit; economic growth.

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