Comfort and Conformity: A Culture-based Theory of Migration

Ruxanda Berlinschi and Jan Fidrmuc

No 7294, CESifo Working Paper Series from CESifo

Abstract: This paper proposes a theory of migration decisions in which cultural traits play a role. Individuals are assumed to value comfort (high wages) and conformity (interactions with individuals who share similar world views). Regions are assumed to differ economically (average wages) and culturally (average world views and their diversity). The model shows that self-selection of inter-regional migrants on world views is non-monotonic if one region is more diverse than the other, and it weakens with economic gaps between regions. This non-monotonicity can lead to a dichotomy of outcomes: culturally diverse regions become even more diverse because of migration, while culturally homogeneous regions become even more homogeneous. Consequently, Tieboutian sorting (people moving to the region in which world views are closer to theirs) only holds when regions have similar wages and diversity of world views.

Keywords: migration; self-selection; culture; diversity; Tiebout model (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A13 F22 J61 Z10 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cul, nep-evo, nep-mig, nep-soc and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ces:ceswps:_7294

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