000			02965cam a22003497 4500
001			w25430
003			NBER
005			20211020104306.0
006			m o d
007			cr cnu||||||||
008			210910s2019 mau fo 000 0 eng d
100	1		_aMichalopoulos, Stelios. _933015
245	1	0	_aFolklore / _cStelios Michalopoulos, Melanie Meng Xue.
260			_aCambridge, Mass. _bNational Bureau of Economic Research _c2019.
300			_a1 online resource: _billustrations (black and white);
490	1		_aNBER working paper series _vno. w25430
500			_aJanuary 2019.
520	3		_aFolklore is the collection of traditional beliefs, customs, and stories of a community passed through the generations by word of mouth. We introduce to economics a unique catalogue of oral traditions spanning approximately 1,000 societies. After validating the catalogue's content by showing that the groups' motifs reflect known geographic and social attributes, we present two sets of applications. First, we illustrate how to fill in the gaps and expand upon a group's ethnographic record, focusing on political complexity, high gods, and trade. Second, we discuss how machine learning and human-classification methods can help shed light on cultural traits, using gender roles, attitudes towards risk, and trust as examples. Societies with tales portraying men as dominant and women as submissive tend to relegate their women to subordinate positions in their communities, both historically and today. More risk-averse and less entrepreneurial people grew up listening to stories where competitions and challenges are more likely to be harmful than beneficial. Communities with low tolerance towards antisocial behavior, captured by the prevalence of tricksters getting punished, are more trusting and prosperous today. These patterns hold across groups, countries, and second- generation immigrants. Overall, the results highlight the significance of folklore in cultural economics, calling for additional applications.
530			_aHardcopy version available to institutional subscribers
538			_aSystem requirements: Adobe [Acrobat] Reader required for PDF files.
538			_aMode of access: World Wide Web.
588	0		_aPrint version record
690		7	_aN00 - General _2Journal of Economic Literature class.
690		7	_aZ1 - Cultural Economics • Economic Sociology • Economic Anthropology _2Journal of Economic Literature class.
690		7	_aZ13 - Economic Sociology • Economic Anthropology • Language • Social and Economic Stratification _2Journal of Economic Literature class.
700	1		_aXue, Melanie Meng.
710	2		_aNational Bureau of Economic Research.
830		0	_aWorking Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) _vno. w25430.
856	4	0	_uhttps://www.nber.org/papers/w25430
856			_yAcceso en línea al DOI _uhttp://dx.doi.org/10.3386/w25430
942			_2ddc _cW-PAPER
999			_c322692 _d281254