Agrarian Origins of Individualism and Collectivism

Martin Fiszbein, Yeonha Jung and Dietrich Vollrath

No 29643, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: This study examines the influence of agricultural labor intensity on individualism across U.S. counties. To measure historical labor intensity in agriculture, we combine data on crop-specific labor requirements and county-specific crop mix around 1900. Potential endogeneity of agricultural labor intensity is addressed using climate-induced variation in crop mix. Our estimates indicate that a one standard deviation increase in labor intensity is associated with a reduction of 0.2-0.3 standard deviations in individualism (as captured by the share of children with infrequent names). We further document significant changes in individualism over time using within-county changes in labor intensity due to mechanization and the boll weevil. We also show that historical agricultural labor intensity continues to influence geographic variation in individualism today.

JEL-codes: N51 O13 P16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr, nep-evo, nep-his, nep-lma and nep-soc
Note: DAE POL
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