We use cookies on this website to give you a better user experience. By continuing to browse the site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. Learn more

"Just Do Your Job": Obedience, Routine Tasks, and the Pattern of Specialization

Date:
22 March 2017
Authors:
Filipe R. Campante, Davin Chor
Tags:
Human Capital, Education, Culture, Exports

Print Article:

We study the interplay between cultural attitudes and the economic environment, focusing on attitudes towards obedience in the workplace. We establish two key stylized facts: First, at the country level, an upward shift in workplace obedience over time is associated with more exporting in industries that feature a high routine task content ('Specialization Fact'). Second, at the individual level, the degree of export-routineness" in the economic environment that respondents were exposed to in their formative years −but not in their adult years −shapes the pro-obedience attitudes that they carry with them into the workforce ('Obedience Fact'). Together, these two facts show that cultural attitudes on workplace obedience respond systematically to economic incentives, and that such a culture in turn shapes the subsequent pattern of industry specialization. We develop an overlapping generations model of human capital investment and cultural transmission, to understand how this aspect of culture and specialization patterns in the economy are jointly determined in the long run. In particular, the model demonstrates the possibility of an "obedience trap": countries may specialize in routine sectors (e.g., basic manufacturing) that foster a culture of obedience, at the expense of the development of more nonroutine and potentially more productive activities.

ERIA-DP-2016-35

Search ERIA.org

Latest Multimedia

Indonesia's ASEAN Chairmanship 2023 High-Level Policy Dialogue: ASEAN Digital Community 2045

ERIA Knowledge Lab Discusses Scaling Up Innovation and Digital Technology Ecosystem

Is ASEAN Ready for Electric Vehicles? | ASEAN Insights Podcast

Latest Articles

India, ASEAN, Digital Cooperation, Financial Technology
14 October 2024
Editor(s)/Author(s): ERIA
India has appointed the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA) as its[...]
India, ASEAN, India-ASEAN Cooperation, Digital Public Infrastructure
14 October 2024
Editor(s)/Author(s): ERIA
At the 21st ASEAN–India Summit held in Vientiane, Lao PDR, on 10 October 2024, India and[...]