The paper explains the large differences in cross-country productivity performance by modeling and testing the effects … of social barriers to communication on productivity and capital accumulation. In an optimal growth model, social barriers …-state levels of total factor productivity (TFP), per capita consumption, and reproducible capital. A ‘bridging’ parameter in the …

, productivity growth and capital accumulation. Moreover, there is evidence of a positive contribution to the process stemming from …

theories of competition, to show the process by which trust-promoting, societal-level moral codes promote productivity and …

In medieval times, most people identified with religious values and aggregate income and productivity grew at glacier … speed. In the 20th century, religion played a much lesser role in daily life and income and productivity grew at high and … worldly pleasures and aggregate productivity takes off. An extension of the basic model investigates the Protestant …