Transformations  in
Business & Economics

THE IMPACT OF CULTURAL VALUES ON HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INDEX: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF EASTERN-WESTERN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES
Claudiu Tiganas, Costica Mihai, Ana Iolanda Voda, Gheorghe Lutac

ABSTRACT.The aim of this paper is to analyse the relation between the development level and values, the common features or behaviours of eleven European countries. Baltic or Mediterranean lifestyle, Catholic or Protestant religion, strong or relaxed family relations, as well as the individuals' position at work or social relations are just some of the aspects that denote a great cultural diversity and show their effects on the society, economy, and, finally, the standard of living of European populations. The methodology focuses on a series of cultural values, such as trust, the feeling of responsibility, imagination, tolerance, and respect for other people, self-determination and perseverance, hard-work, and religious faith in order to draw plausible conclusions on the main indicators that may or may not favour the economic development. The approach that was proposed is a transversal-comparative, and the static methods pertain to the uni/multivariate analysis .

KEYWORDS: human development, tolerance and respect for other people, self-determination and perseverance, hard work.

JEL classification: O1, O15, P30.