Cultural Paradigms in Property Institutions

Do "cultural factors" substantively influence the creation and evolution of property institutions? For the past several decades, few legal scholars have answered affirmatively. Those inclined towards a law and economics methodology tend to see property institutions as the outcome of self-interested and utilitarian bargaining and therefore often question the analytical usefulness of "culture"-defined here as social norms, values, and beliefs that are embraced and internalized without empirical discovery or analytical justification -in understanding this process.