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A Broad View of Regional Science pp 175–198Cite as

Ceteris Paribus and Fixed Effects in Regional and Cultural Economics

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Part of the book series: New Frontiers in Regional Science: Asian Perspectives ((NFRSASIPER,volume 47))

Abstract

This chapter is inspired by Peter Nijkamp’s contribution “Ceteris Paribus, Spatial Complexity and Spatial Equilibrium” and his original take on the deficiencies of using the ceteris paribus assumption in regional economic modelling. After summarizing Nijkamp’s interpretative perspective of the ceteris paribus assumption within theoretical modelling, I suggest an analytical analogy between the ceteris paribus assumption in theoretical modelling and the use of fixed effects in empirical modelling. I argue that fixed effects have the economic meaning of the ceteris paribus assumption in empirical work and could lead to erroneous implications in empirical results, especially with regard to understanding cultural relativity across space. The chapter illustrates this point through an example focused on religion as one of the most important proxies for culture in the economic literature. The operationalization of the example draws on data from the World Value Survey (WVS) and employs detailed data decomposition and logistic regression analyses. The use of fixed effects is contrasted to precise quantification of cultural interactions, cultural relativity and cultural hysteresis. The chapter shows how significant effects from cultural complexity can be lost or overseen in the interpretative analysis of empirical findings when fixed effects are used in the spirit of the ceteris paribus assumption.

To Peter, with gratitude

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Tubadji (2012, 2013) defines culture and cultural capital, explaining how the latter is the potential of the former to influence the reality and defines the composition of culture into four main subdomains: living culture and cultural heritage, respectively, each being in tangible or intangible form. Besides this complexity, each of these subdomains is built of a wealth of attitudes and their related beliefs and norms, which sometimes have different direction of impact, see Tubadji and Pattitoni (2020). That is why culture is firstly a complex system itself. Second, due to defining attitudes as the core of this complex system, CBD can be considered a Neo-Weberian paradigm, as Weber (1905) approach to culture defines culture as an attitude to religion. Regarding the role of culture as a proto-institution in the hierarchy of institutions, see Tubadji et al. (2015).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Economics Department, Swansea University, Swansea, UK

    Annie Tubadji

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  1. Annie Tubadji
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Correspondence to Annie Tubadji .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Hokkai-Gakuen University, Sapporo, Japan

    Soushi Suzuki

  2. University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy

    Roberto Patuelli

Appendix: Descriptive Statistics: WVS Individual Level Data

Appendix: Descriptive Statistics: WVS Individual Level Data

Variable

Obs

Mean

Std. Dev.

Min

Max

Wage

314,846

4.62

2.337

1

10

Age

344,279

40.72

16.135

13

102

age_sq

344,279

1918.43

1487.046

169

10,404

Edu

299,295

4.71

2.229

1

8

Female

343,808

0.52

0.500

0

1

City

229,132

0.58

0.494

0

1

religion_important

348,532

0.67

0.472

0

1

Waves

348,532

4.27

1.432

1

6

wave1

348,532

0.04

0.194

0

1

wave2

348,532

0.07

0.256

0

1

wave3

348,532

0.22

0.416

0

1

wave4

348,532

0.17

0.375

0

1

wave5

348,532

0.24

0.428

0

1

Country

348,532

  

1

100

  1. Notes: The table presents the main descriptive statistics for the variables form the WVS used on individual level in this chapter

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Tubadji, A. (2021). Ceteris Paribus and Fixed Effects in Regional and Cultural Economics. In: Suzuki, S., Patuelli, R. (eds) A Broad View of Regional Science. New Frontiers in Regional Science: Asian Perspectives, vol 47. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-4098-5_10

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