Culture and institutional hysteresis: The furtadian dependency as a historical institution

Abstract

The present article seeks to present an institutional and heterodox analytical framework with which one can study Furtado’s cultural dependency concept. Here, an investigation towards the core of the furtadian dependency will be complemented by comments on the institutional dynamics underlying economic relations of production and power. Through the union of these distinct but complementary traditions in economic thought, a long-term model for underdeveloped economic performance will be presented. With such a model, we aim to display how institutionally and culturally dependent economies become locked-in to a given, underdeveloped, pattern of production.