Konfliktbewältigung, soziokulturelles Erbe und wirtschaftlicher Fortschritt

For a long time, the countries in East Asia have been growing faster than countries in Africa and Latin America. In the present study, the author attributes this to a large extent to traditions in East Asian countries, in particular to the quality of informal sociocultural traditions passed down in the families. The sociocultural traditions in East Asian countries have often been described as the countries' social capital. This social capital has made it easier for the population in East Asian countries to adopt innovations and to increase productivity. The author shows that a variety of historical factors have prevented Latin American and African nations from accumulating a similar social capital.