Migration and Culture

30 Pages Posted: 24 Aug 2010

See all articles by Gil S. Epstein

Gil S. Epstein

Bar-Ilan University - Department of Economics; IZA Institute of Labor Economics; University College London - CReAM - Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration

Ira N. Gang

Rutgers University - Economics Department

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Abstract

Culture is not new to the study of migration. It has lurked beneath the surface for some time, occasionally protruding openly into the discussion, usually under some pseudonym. The authors bring culture into the open. They are concerned with how culture manifests itself in the migration process for three groups of actors: the migrants, those remaining in the sending areas, and people already living in the recipient locations. The topics vary widely. What unites the authors is an understanding that though actors behave differently, within a group there are economically important shared beliefs (customs, values, attitudes, etc.), which we commonly refer to as culture. Culture and identify play a central role in our understanding of migration as an economic phenomenon; but what about them matters? Properly, we should be looking at the determinants of identity and the determinants of culture (prices and incomes, broadly defined). But this is not what is done. Usually identity and culture appear in economics articles as a black box. Here we try to begin to break open the black box.

Keywords: migration, culture

JEL Classification: R23, O15, F22

Suggested Citation

Epstein, Gil S. and Gang, Ira N., Migration and Culture. IZA Discussion Paper No. 5123, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1663163 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1663163

Gil S. Epstein (Contact Author)

Bar-Ilan University - Department of Economics ( email )

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University College London - CReAM - Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration ( email )

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Ira N. Gang

Rutgers University - Economics Department ( email )

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HOME PAGE: http://econweb.rutgers.edu/gang/research

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