Family Ties and Political Participation

Alesina, Alberto F.; Giuliano, Paola

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Family Ties and Political Participation

NBER Working Paper No. w15415

30 Pages Posted: 13 Oct 2009 Last revised: 13 Feb 2023

See all articles by Alberto F. Alesina

Alberto F. Alesina

Harvard University - Department of Economics; Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR); National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Paola Giuliano

University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) - Anderson School of Management; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR); IZA Institute of Labor Economics

There are 3 versions of this paper

Date Written: October 2009

Abstract

We establish an inverse relationship between family ties and political participation, such that the more individuals rely on the family as a provider of services, insurance, transfer of resources, the lower is one's civic engagment and political participation. We also show that strong family ties appear to be a substitute for generalized trust, rather than a complement to it. These three constructs-civic engagement, political participation, and trust- are part of what is known as social capital; therefore, in this paper, we contribute to the investigation of the origin and evolution of social capital. We establish these results using within-country evidence and looking at the behavior of immigrants from various countries in 32 different destination places.

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Alesina, Alberto F. and Giuliano, Paola, Family Ties and Political Participation (October 2009). NBER Working Paper No. w15415, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1486551