Country-Specific Preferences and Employment Rates in Europe

Simone Moriconi and Giovanni Peri

DEM Discussion Paper Series from Department of Economics at the University of Luxembourg

Abstract: European countries exhibit significant differences in employment rates of adult males. Differences in labor-leisure preferences, partly determined by cultural values that vary across countries, can be responsible for part of these differences. However, differences in labor market institutions, productivity, and skills of the labor force are also crucial factors and likely correlated with preferences. In this paper we use variation among first- and second-generation cross-country European migrants to isolate the effect of culturally transmitted labor-leisure preferences on individual employment rates. If migrants maintain some of their country of origin labor-leisure preferences as they move to different labor market conditions, we can separate the impact of preferences from the effect of other factors. We find country-specific labor-leisure preferences explain about 24% of the top-bottom variation in employment rates across European countries.

Keywords: Labor-Leisure Preferences; Cultural Transmission; Employment; Europe; Migrants (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J22 J61 Z10 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dem, nep-eur, nep-lab and nep-mig
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (26)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Country-specific preferences and employment rates in Europe (2019)
Working Paper: Country-specific preferences and employment rates in Europe (2019)
Working Paper: Country-Specific Preferences and Employment Rates in Europe (2019)
Working Paper: Country-Specific Preferences and Employment Rates in Europe (2015)
Working Paper: Country-Specific Preferences and Employment Rates in Europe (2015)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:luc:wpaper:15-11

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