Cultural Codes: An Economic Analysis

In this article, Leeson comments on the article “Cultural Codes and Military Ethics—Israel’s Leadership and POWs from the 1973 Yom Kippur War,” by Dalia Gavriely-Nuri. He uses rational choice theory to consider the basic themes Gavriely-Nuri’s article raises. By highlighting the role that individuals’ incentives play in determining their behavior, the economic approach makes it possible to understand why some cultural codes are effective while others aren’t, and to predict the contexts in which cultural codes are likely to succeed or fail.

Find the article at Taylor & Francis Online.