Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP13658
Authors: Anke Kessler; Kevin Milligan
Abstract: This paper studies the influence of cultural norms on economic outcomes. We combine detailed information on second-generation female immigrants with historical data from their an- cestral source countries to see how the cultural endowment affects current decisions on work and fertility. We show that results using the standard approach are sensitive to context and specifi- cation. We then extend to reveal an education gradient for cultural assimilation: lower-educated women exhibit a strong influence of cultural variables while higher-educated women show no in- fluence at all. We gather and present evidence on several potential mechanisms for the education gradient.
Keywords: culture; immigration; assimilation; labor supply; fertility; human capital
JEL Codes: J16; J22; J61
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| cultural proxies (female labor force participation) (J21) | labor supply of second-generation immigrant women (J82) |
| cultural proxies (total fertility rates) (J13) | fertility decisions of second-generation immigrant women (J13) |
| lower female labor force participation rates in source country (J21) | fewer hours worked by lower-educated women (J29) |
| education (I29) | cultural influences on economic behavior (Z12) |