Who Prospers? How Cultural Values Shape Economic and Political Success

National Review, August 31, 1992 by Doug Bandow

Who Prospers? How Cultural Values Shape Economic and Political Success, by Lawrence E. Harrison (Basic, 280 pp., $22)

"WHY do some nations and ethnic groups do better than others?" asks development specialist Lawrence Harrison. Imperialism, dependency, and inadequate natural resources have long been blamed for international poverty, but Harrison finds these and other explanations lacking. Instead, after studying a range of nations, from Argentina to China to Spain, he concludes that a positive culture--"a coherent system of values, attitudes, and institutions that influence individual and social behavior"--is critical for success. Harrison bluntly declares that some systems "are progress prone, " while others are not. What makes' Who Prospers? especially provocative is that Harrison looks at American culture, too, and finds reasons for concern. Many of his diagnoses ring true, though his praise for George Bush and Michael Dukakis as cultural leaders seems curious. And while his support for expansive new government programs is clearly misguided, Harrison's call for a "cultural renaissance" deserves serious attention as part of the ongoing debate over what are called, in morally neutral language, "values"--but which, if they are valuable at all, are more accurately described as "virtues." As this book demonstrates.