Dialects, cultural identity, and economic exchange

Oliver Falck, Stephan Heblich, Alfred Lameli and Jens Südekum
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Jens Suedekum

Journal of Urban Economics, 2012, vol. 72, issue 2, 225-239

Abstract: We study the effect of cultural ties on economic exchange using a novel measure for cultural identity: dialects. We evaluate linguistic micro-data from a unique language survey conducted between 1879 and 1888 in about 45,000 German schools. The recorded geography of dialects comprehensively portrays local cultural similarities that have been evolving for centuries, and provides an ideal opportunity to measure cultural barriers to economic exchange at a fine geographical scale. In a gravity analysis we show that cross-regional migration flows in the period 2000–2006 are positively affected by historical dialect similarity. Using different empirical strategies, we show that this finding indicates highly time-persistent cultural ties that foster economic exchange across regions.

Keywords: Dialects; Language; Culture; Internal migration; Gravity; Germany (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J6 J61 R R2 R23 Z1 Z10 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (95)

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Related works:
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)
Working Paper: Dialects, Cultural Identity, and Economic Exchange (2010)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:juecon:v:72:y:2012:i:2:p:225-239

DOI: 10.1016/j.jue.2012.05.007

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