Evaluating the Effect of Cultural Capital on GDP in Provinces of Iran

Increase in GDP per capita is a measure of economic performance of a society. Prior to this, the existing theories emphasized on the formation of physical capital and human capital as a factor increasing GDP per capita, but one of the factors affecting the GDP, is the cultural capital. The aim of this study is to estimate the cultural capital of Iran's provinces and its effects on GDP per capita in the world. So, the definition provided by Throsby is used for cultural capital. According to this definition , cultural capital is as a stock of tangible and intangible cultural expressions, The stock of tangible cultural capital exists in buildings, structures, sites and locations endowed with cultural significance (heritage) and in artworks and artifacts existing as private goods. Intangible cultural capital comprises the set of ideas, practices, beliefs, traditions .
Therefore , using 36 variables related to cultural capital, the required data was collected and normalized. Then cultural capital has been calculated for the 24 provinces from 2004 to 2011, then using the Generalized method of moments, the impact of cultural capital on GDP has been tested and reviewed.
The results obtained, confirm the positive effect of cultural capital on GDP per capita. It means that increase of cultural capital, raises GDP per capita. Hence policy makers of economic and cultural should be more consider dominant social culture and its impact on economic issues and policies adopted to improve cultural indicators and cultural capital.
According to research findings, it can be argued that cultural capital has a positive and significant effect on per capita GDP,which is consistent with the theoretical foundations.
Accordingly, investing in culture and increasing cultural capital can have a positive impact on per capita gross domestic product and, as a result, one of the primary conditions for improving economic prosperity. For example, when the culture of reading and reading is spreading among people, it will increase the level of awareness and learning of individuals in a community, and this helps to promote cultural capital and increase labor productivity in a community, so increasing and improving cultural capital And as a result, upgrading human capital can not have a positive impact on GDP. Another example that can be discussed in this context is the expansion of legal culture, when this culture spreads among people in a society, it also increases investment in a society, as one of the most important preconditions for an investment It is necessary that there are certain and consistent rules and, of course, compliance with those rules, the person who invests, along with the other conditions that he is considering, also looks at the laws in his field of work, so if he has created this assurance That the laws related to his field of work are right.
Therefore, one of the policy recommendations derived from this research is an attempt to promote the culture of society in order to improve the economic situation. The institutionalization of values ​​and norms such as respect for laws and regulations, increasing attention to books and reading, spending and passing, the importance of religion and other variables affecting cultural capital among the community can have a positive impact on the economic situation of society. Hence, economic and cultural policymakers should be more aware of the prevailing culture of society and its impact on economic issues and pursue policies to improve cultural indicators and increase cultural capital.