A growing body of empirical work measuring different types of cultural traits has shown that culture matters for a variety of economic outcomes. Alberto Alesina, Harvard University and IGIER Bocconi, focuses on one specific aspect of the relevance of culture: its relationship to institution and reviews the work with a theoretical, empirical, and historical bent to assess the presence of a two-way causal effect between culture and institutions.

Image courtesy of interviewee. March 17, 2017