Dialects, Cultural Identity, and Economic Exchange

Oliver Falck, Stephan Heblich, Alfred Lameli () and Jens Suedekum
Additional contact information
Alfred Lameli: University of Marburg

No 4743, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: We investigate whether time-persistent cultural borders impede economic exchange across regions of the same country. To measure cultural differences we evaluate, for the first time in economics, linguistic micro-data about phonological and grammatical features of German dialects. These data are taken from a unique linguistic survey conducted between 1879 and 1888 in 45,000 schools. Matching this information to 439 current German regions, we construct a dialect similarity matrix. Using a gravity analysis, we show that current cross-regional migration is positively affected by historical dialect similarity. This suggests that cultural identities formed in the past still influence economic exchange today.

Keywords: dialects; language; culture; internal migration; gravity; Germany (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J61 R23 Z10 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 53 pages
Date: 2010-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cul, nep-evo, nep-geo, nep-mig and nep-soc
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (33)

Published - published in: Journal of Urban Economics, 2012, 72 (2-3), 225-239

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Related works:
Journal Article: Dialects, cultural identity, and economic exchange (2012)
Working Paper: Dialects, cultural identity, and economic exchange (2012)
Working Paper: Dialects, Cultural Identity, and Economic Exchange (2011)
Working Paper: Dialects, Cultural Identity, and Economic Exchange (2010)
Working Paper: Dialects, cultural identity and economic exchange (2010)
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