Zero-Sum Environments, the Evolution of Effort-Suppressing Beliefs, and Economic Development
We study the evolution of belief systems that suppress productive effort, such as beliefs about envy, witchcraft, the importance of luck for success, or disdain for competitive effort. In our framework, demotivating beliefs evolve when interactions are zero-sum, i.e., one person’s gain comes at the expense of others. They improve material welfare, although they tend to reduce subjective well-being. The model delivers predictions about the relationship between the degree of zero-sumness, demotivating beliefs, material welfare, and subjective well-being. We find that the predictions are supported by data from three samples in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as well as global evidence from the World Values Survey and the European Values Study.
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Copy CitationAugustin Bergeron, Jean-Paul Carvalho, Joseph Henrich, Nathan Nunn, and Jonathan L. Weigel, "Zero-Sum Environments, the Evolution of Effort-Suppressing Beliefs, and Economic Development," NBER Working Paper 31663 (2023), https://doi.org/10.3386/w31663.Download Citation
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