Culture‐based development: empirical evidence for Germany

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive concept for the role of culture in economic growth. Design/methodology/approach The paper overviews the culture based development (CBD) concept and its precise definition of culture as an encompassing socio‐economic factor. The outlined CBD mechanism of impact is expressed in a testable empirical model. Alternative approaches for operationalizing the CBD definition of cultural capital are suggested and a real data application on intra‐regional level (for German Kreise ) is presented. Findings The findings illustrate the ability of the CBD model to capture the statistical significance of culture. Originality/value The paper demonstrates the two innovative elements of the CBD approach to culture: first, measuring culture with a factor variable as a better alternative to the mono‐dimensional variables inferred by the state of the art; and second, thus capturing the overall economic meaning of the cultural factor (not just one aspect of it) for local socio‐economic development.