Culture or Context? Revisiting the Role of Culture in Shaping Economic Outcomes

Wifag Adnan

No 12692, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Past studies have consistently shown that cultural norms predict individual economic outcomes for second-generation US immigrants. However, due to the (mainly) European composition of immigrants prior to the 1965 Immigration Reform Act, most researchers have not accounted for the role of race and ethnicity in identifying culture parameters. Moreover, the majority of studies assume the US is a homogenous region in confronting challenges related to integrating women and disadvantaged minority groups into the labor market. Using recent micro-level data of working-age higher order immigrants, along with detailed local, social capital and source- country measures, allow me to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the relationship between cultural norms and female labor supply. For non-Hispanic Whites, the impact of culture is explained by variation in country-level factors, such as passport power and internationally standardized exam scores. In contrast, for Blacks, the relevant predictors of labor supply are local culture and social capital measures.

Keywords: second-generation immigrants; ethnicity; race; gender; culture; female labor supply; selection-bias (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: P16 Z10 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 81 pages
Date: 2019-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lab, nep-mig, nep-soc and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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