Agrarian Origins of Individualism and Collectivism

This study examines the influence of agricultural labor intensity on individualism across U.S. counties. We measure historical labor intensity in agriculture by combining data on crop-specific labor requirements with county-level crop mix around 1900. Potential endogeneity in agricultural labor intensity is addressed using climate-induced variation in crop mix. The estimates indicate that a one standard deviation increase in labor intensity is associated with a reduction of 0.2-0.3 standard deviations in individualism (as captured by the share of children with infrequent names). We also document significant changes in individualism over time, in relation to within-county shifts in labor intensity due to mechanization and the boll weevil shock. Further evidence from Google Trends data suggests that historical labor intensity continues to influence geographic variation in individualism today. Lastly, our decomposition of labor intensity provides insight into the mechanism underlying this cultural effect.