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Cambridge Journal of Economics Advance Access published online on August 6, 2007
Cambridge Journal of Economics, doi:10.1093/cje/bem015
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© The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Cambridge Political Economy Society. All rights reserved.

Cultural globalisation, institutional diversity and the unequal accumulation of intellectual capital

Ugo Pagano*

* Università di Siena and Central European University, Budapest

Address for correspondence: Dipartimento di Economia Politica Piazza S. Francesco 7, 53010 Siena Italy; email: Pagano{at}unisi.it

National economies used to be characterised by cultural standardisation and social protection. Globalisation pushes cultural standardisation beyond the boundaries of national states and induces a global dilution of the standards of social protection. At the same time, if national economies specialise according to their comparative institutional advantage, global economic integration may help promote institutional diversity and variety in welfare policies. However, the institution of a global system of intellectual property rights may seriously limit the ‘biodiversity’ of capitalism and imply a global revenge of a new international form of Taylorism. The overall result may be a very unequal accumulation of intellectual capital. Paradoxically, the modern global economy may end up sharing some aspects of the agrarian societies that have been displaced by modern nation states.

Key Words: Global economy • Global development • Cultural standardisation • Social protection • Institutional diversity • Intellectual property rights

JEL classifications: F020, O340, P140, P510

Manuscript received September 27, 2005; final version received April 27, 2007.


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