Cultural change and the migration choice

Mauro Lanati () and Alessandra Venturini
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Mauro Lanati: Migration Policy Centre (EUI), Robert Schuman Centre of Advanced Studies (EUI)

Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), 2021, vol. 157, issue 4, No 4, 799-852

Abstract: Abstract Cultural differences play an important role in shaping migration patterns. The conventional proxies for cross country cultural differences, such as common language; ethnicity; genetic traits; or religion, implicitly assume that cultural proximity between two countries is constant over time and symmetric. This is far from realistic. This paper proposes a gravity model for international migration which explicitly allows for the time varying and asymmetric dimensions of cultural proximity. In accordance with Disdier, Tai, Fontagné, Mayer (Rev World Econ, 145(4):575–595, 2010) we assume that the evolution of bilateral cultural affinity over time is reflected in the intensity of bilateral trade in cultural goods. The empirical framework includes a comprehensive set of high dimensional fixed effects which enable identification of the impact of cultural proximity on migration over and beyond the effect of pre-existing cultural and historical ties. The results are robust across different econometric techniques and suggest that positive changes in cultural relationships over time foster bilateral migration.

Keywords: Migration; Trade in cultural goods; Gravity model (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F16 F22 Z10 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Working Paper: Cultural Change and the Migration Choice (2018)
Working Paper: Cultural Change and the Migration Choice (2018)
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DOI: 10.1007/s10290-021-00418-1

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