Discussion paper
DP18051 Family Firms: A Cultural Economics Perspective
A vast literature in economics has focused on the role of culture in financial development and growth. Here, I review works which have adopted a cultural perspective to the study of family businesses. While family firms are ubiquitous, their prevalence displays wide spatial differences. Also, their performance ability has been shown to vary significantly across contexts. By discussing existing methods and findings in economics and finance, this article illustrates how focusing on cultural elements such as trust, collectivism and family values provides a useful lens to answer the important questions of why family firms exist, and how well they perform.
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