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Do immigrants follow their home country's fertility norms?

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  • Cygan-Rehm, Kamila

Abstract

This paper focuses on the role of home country's birth rates in shaping immigrants' fertility. We use the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) to study completed fertility of first generation immigrants who arrived from different countries and at different times. We find that women from countries where the aggregate birth rate is high tend to have significantly more children than women from countries with low birth rates. This relationship is attenuated by selection operating towards destination country. In addition, the fertility rates of source countries explain a large proportion of fertility differentials between immigrants and German natives. The results suggest that home country's culture affects immigrants' long-run outcomes and therefore favor the socialization hypothesis.

Suggested Citation

  • Cygan-Rehm, Kamila, 2013. "Do immigrants follow their home country's fertility norms?," FAU Discussion Papers in Economics 04/2013, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Institute for Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:iwqwdp:042013
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    Cited by:

    1. Kazenin, Konstantin (Казенин, Константин), 2018. "The Impact of Migration on Fertility: An Overview of Foreign Research [Влияние Миграции На Рождаемость: Обзор Зарубежных Исследований]," Working Papers 041804, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    migration; fertility; socialization; culture; Germany;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • Z10 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - General
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification

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