Remain single or live together: Does culture matter?

Miriam Marcén and Marina Morales

MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: This paper studies the role of culture in determining the decision to live together (as married or unmarried couples). To examine this issue, we utilize data on first-generation immigrants who arrived to the United States at or before the age of 5. We follow the epidemiological approach, indicating that the dissimilarities in the behavior of young-arrival immigrants originating from different countries, who grew up and live in the same country, can be interpreted as evidence of the existence of a cultural effect. Results show a positive and statistically significant relationship between the cultural proxy, that is, the proportion of individuals living together by country of origin, and the immigrant choice of living with a partner. We extend this analysis to the examination of both married and unmarried cohabitation, separately, and to an exploration of the formation of same- or different-origin couples. In all cases, our findings suggest an important role of culture. The results are robust after controlling for several home-country observable and unobservable characteristics, and to the use of different subsamples. With respect to the transmission of culture, we show empirical evidence of horizontal transmission of culture.

Keywords: Culture; Immigrants; Live together; Marriage; Cohabitation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J12 J15 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017-03-17
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dem, nep-mig and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pra:mprapa:77623

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