Coming apart? Cultural distances in the United States over time

Marianne Bertrand and Emir Kamenica

No 13024, CEPR Discussion Papers from Centre for Economic Policy Research

Abstract: We analyze temporal trends in cultural distance between groups in the US defi ned by income, education, gender, race, and political ideology. We measure cultural distance between two groups as the ability to infer an individual's group based on his or her (i) media consumption, (ii) consumer behavior, (iii) time use, or (iv) social attitudes. Gender difference in time use decreased between 1965 and 1995 and has remained constant since. Differences in social attitudes by political ideology and income have increased over the last four decades. Whites and non-whites have converged somewhat on attitudes but have diverged in consumer behavior. For all other demographic divisions and cultural dimensions, cultural distance has been broadly constant over time.

Date: 2018-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cul and nep-ure
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Journal Article: Coming Apart? Cultural Distances in the United States over Time (2023)
Working Paper: Coming Apart? Cultural Distances in the United States over Time (2018)
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