Immigrant Fertility in Germany: The Role of Culture

Kamila Cygan-Rehm

No 707, SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research from DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP)

Abstract: This paper focuses on the role of home country’s fertility culture in shaping immigrants’ fertility. I use the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) to study completed fertility of first-generation immigrants who arrived from different countries and in different years. The variation in total fertility rates (TFRs) across countries and over time serves as a proxy for cultural changes. By using a linear fixed-effects approach, I find that women from countries with high TFRs have significantly more children than women from countries with low TFRs. I also demonstrate that this positive relationship is attenuated by potential selection that operates towards the destination country. In addition, home country’s TFRs explain a large proportion of fertility differentials between immigrants and German natives. The results suggest that home country’s culture affects immigrants’ long-run outcomes, thereby supporting the socialization hypothesis.

Keywords: migration; fertility; socialization; culture; Germany (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J13 J15 Z10 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 45 p.
Date: 2014
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cul, nep-gro and nep-mig
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (17)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Immigrant Fertility in Germany: The Role of Culture (2014)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp707

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