Working Paper: NBER ID: w24771
Authors: Marianne Bertrand; Emir Kamenica
Abstract: We analyze temporal trends in cultural distance between groups in the US defined by income, education, gender, race, and political ideology. We measure cultural distance between two groups as the ability to infer an individual's group based on his or her (i) media consumption, (ii) consumer behavior, (iii) time use, or (iv) social attitudes. Gender difference in time use decreased between 1965 and 1995 and has remained constant since. Differences in social attitudes by political ideology and income have increased over the last four decades. Whites and non-whites have converged somewhat on attitudes but have diverged in consumer behavior. For all other demographic divisions and cultural dimensions, cultural distance has been broadly constant over time.
Keywords: Cultural Distance; Social Attitudes; Income Inequality; Machine Learning
JEL Codes: B55
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| cultural distance in media consumption, consumer behavior, and time use between the rich and the poor (F61) | stability of cultural distance (Z10) |
| ability to predict income based on media consumption (D12) | stability of cultural distance (Z10) |
| consumer behavior predictions range from 85% to 89% (D12) | stability of cultural distance (Z10) |
| differences in social attitudes by political ideology and income have increased since the 1970s (P16) | divergence in social attitudes (J79) |
| convergence in social attitudes between whites and nonwhites (J15) | stability of cultural distance (Z10) |
| divergence in consumer behavior (D16) | stability of cultural distance (Z10) |
| gender differences in time use decreased from 1965 to 1995 (J29) | stability of cultural distance (Z10) |
| gender differences in time use have remained constant since 1995 (J29) | stability of cultural distance (Z10) |