The terrorist attacks in America and the war against the Taliban have incited wide speculation about the relationship between culture and economic development. Most pointedly, is the Islamic world thwarted from modernizing because its culture is trapped in the Middle Ages? Is poor economic development in much of the Middle East and Central Asia the result of cultural practices that are hostile to economic growth?
The terrorist attacks in America and the war against the Taliban have incited wide speculation about the relationship between culture and economic development. Most pointedly, is the Islamic world thwarted from modernizing because its culture is trapped in the Middle Ages? Is poor economic development in much of the Middle East and Central Asia the result of cultural practices that are hostile to economic growth?