Inequality in Income Distributions: Does Culture Matter? An Analysis of Western Native American Tribes
Author(s)
Mushinski, David W.; Pickering, Kathleen
Abstract
Social theorists have postulated a relationship between the cultural characteristics of a society and resource distributions in its community. For example, more hierarchical societies might be expected to exhibit greater income inequality. Despite these observations, standard economic analyses have ignored the impact of cultural characteristics on income inequality in a society. This paper combines data from the United States Census with measures of North American tribal cultural characteristics developed by Joseph Jorgensen [1980] to determine the impact of cultural factors on income inequality.
