The concepts of cultural relativism (introduced by Franz Boas) and hedonic relativism (introduced by Richard Easterlin) are reference points of a theory that addresses international differences in per capita incomes and variations in the contribution of income to happiness. The pivotal concept in this study is diligence. Painstaking effort, that is, diligence, is needed to produce high quality goods and services. The downside of such efforts lies in the psychological burden that comes with the necessary high level of self-control of the individual worker and the required organisational feedback mechanisms in firms. We present two competing views concerning the determination of diligence. The first, anthropologically inspired, hypothesis states that a society’s cultural forces such as cognitive styles, organisational traditions and religion determine the level of diligence. One implication of this perspective is that societies can have income levels that are either too high or too low relative to the welfare optimum. The second view holds that diligence is determined in a maximising way, balancing the gains and pains of diligence in the economic realm. Cross-country data are studied in order to assess the two competing views. The econometric evidence indicates that it is the maximising view that can explain key aspects of the data.

JEL: D63, P5, Z1

文化相对论（由弗朗兹·博阿斯（Franz Boas）提出）和享乐主义相对论（由理查德·伊斯特林（Richard Easterlin）提出）是解决人均收入的国际差异以及收入对幸福的贡献变化的理论的参考点。这项研究中的关键概念是勤奋。生产高质量的商品和服务需要付出艰辛的努力，即勤奋。这种努力的弊端在于心理负担，这种心理负担伴随着对个体工人的必要高水平的自我控制以及企业所需要的组织反馈机制。我们就勤勉的决定提出两种相互竞争的观点。第一个受人类学启发的假设指出，社会的文化力量，例如认知方式，组织的传统和宗教决定着勤奋的程度。这种观点的一个暗示是，相对于最优福利，社会的收入水平可能太高或太低。第二种观点认为，尽职调查是通过最大化的方式来确定的，从而平衡了经济领域尽职调查的收益和痛苦。为了评估两种相互竞争的观点，研究了跨国数据。计量经济学证据表明，最大化的观点可以解释数据的关键方面。为了评估两种相互竞争的观点，研究了跨国数据。计量经济学证据表明，最大化的观点可以解释数据的关键方面。为了评估两种相互竞争的观点，研究了跨国数据。计量经济学证据表明，最大化的观点可以解释数据的关键方面。

JEL：D63，P5，Z1