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Ethnic Persistence, Assimilation and Risk Proclivity

Author

Listed:
  • Bonin, Holger

    (IHS - Institute for Advanced Studies, Vienna)

  • Constant, Amelie F.

    (Temple University)

  • Tatsiramos, Konstantinos

    (University of Luxembourg)

  • Zimmermann, Klaus F.

    (University of Bonn)

Abstract

The paper investigates the role of social norms as a determinant of individual attitudes by analyzing risk proclivity reported by immigrants and natives in a unique representative German survey. We employ factor analysis to construct measures of immigrants' ethnic persistence and assimilation. The estimated effect of these measures on risk proclivity suggests that adaptation to the attitudes of the majority population closes the immigrant-native gap in risk proclivity, while stronger commitment to the home country preserves it. As risk attitudes are behaviorally relevant, and vary by ethnic origin, our results could also help explain differences in economic assimilation of immigrants.

Suggested Citation

  • Bonin, Holger & Constant, Amelie F. & Tatsiramos, Konstantinos & Zimmermann, Klaus F., 2006. "Ethnic Persistence, Assimilation and Risk Proclivity," IZA Discussion Papers 2537, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp2537
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Camerer, Colin F & Hogarth, Robin M, 1999. "The Effects of Financial Incentives in Experiments: A Review and Capital-Labor-Production Framework," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 19(1-3), pages 7-42, December.
    2. Thomas Dohmen & Armin Falk & David Huffman & Uwe Sunde & Jürgen Schupp & Gert G. Wagner, 2005. "Individual Risk Attitudes: New Evidence from a Large, Representative, Experimentally-Validated Survey," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 511, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    3. Bonin, Holger & Dohmen, Thomas & Falk, Armin & Huffman, David & Sunde, Uwe, 2007. "Cross-sectional earnings risk and occupational sorting: The role of risk attitudes," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(6), pages 926-937, December.
    4. Thomas Dohmen & Armin Falk & David Huffman & Uwe Sunde, 2012. "The Intergenerational Transmission of Risk and Trust Attitudes," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 79(2), pages 645-677.
    5. Constant, Amelie F. & Gataullina, Liliya & Zimmermann, Klaus F., 2006. "Gender, Ethnic Identity and Work," IZA Discussion Papers 2420, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Timothy Hatton & Andrew Leigh, 2011. "Immigrants assimilate as communities, not just as individuals," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 24(2), pages 389-419, April.
    7. Chiswick, Barry R, 1978. "The Effect of Americanization on the Earnings of Foreign-born Men," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 86(5), pages 897-921, October.
    8. Jürgen Schupp & Gert G. Wagner, 2002. "Maintenance of and Innovation in Long-Term Panel Studies: The Case of the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP)," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 276, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    9. Ekelund, Jesper & Johansson, Edvard & Jarvelin, Marjo-Riitta & Lichtermann, Dirk, 2005. "Self-employment and risk aversion--evidence from psychological test data," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(5), pages 649-659, October.
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    Cited by:

    1. Hartmut Lehmann & Alexander Muravyev & Klaus Zimmermann, 2012. "The Ukrainian longitudinal monitoring survey: towards a better understanding of labor markets in transition," IZA Journal of Labor & Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 1(1), pages 1-15, December.
    2. Amelie F. Constant & Klaus F. Zimmermann, 2011. "Migration, Ethnicity and Economic Integration," Chapters, in: Miroslav N. Jovanović (ed.), International Handbook on the Economics of Integration, Volume III, chapter 7, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    3. Anna-Elisabeth Thum, 2013. "Ethnic Identity and Educational Outcomes of German Immigrants and Their Children," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 622, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    4. Akgüç, Mehtap & Liu, Xingfei & Tani, Massimiliano & Zimmermann, Klaus F., 2016. "Risk attitudes and migration," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 166-176.
    5. Amelie F. Constant & Annabelle Krause & Ulf Rinne & Klaus F. Zimmermann, 2010. "Economic Preferences and Attitudes of the Unemployed: Are Natives and Second Generation Migrants Alike?," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1088, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    6. Sumit S. Deole & Marc Oliver Rieger, 2023. "The immigrant-native gap in risk and time preferences in Germany: levels, socio-economic determinants, and recent changes," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 36(2), pages 743-778, April.
    7. Catia Batista & Janis Umblijs, 2014. "Migration, risk attitudes, and entrepreneurship: evidence from a representative immigrant survey," IZA Journal of Migration and Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 3(1), pages 1-25, December.
    8. Pia Orrenius & Madeline Zavodny, 2009. "Do immigrants work in riskier jobs?," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 46(3), pages 535-551, August.
    9. Shi, Xiaojun & Yan, Zhu, 2018. "Urbanization and risk preference in China: A decomposition of self-selection and assimilation effects," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 210-228.
    10. Pia M. Orrenius & Madeline Zavodny, 2013. "Immigrants in risky occupations," Chapters, in: Amelie F. Constant & Klaus F. Zimmermann (ed.), International Handbook on the Economics of Migration, chapter 11, pages 214-226, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    11. Constant, Amelie F. & Nottmeyer, Olga & Zimmermann, Klaus F., 2009. "Cultural Integration in Germany," IZA Discussion Papers 4675, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Kim, Young-Il & Lee, Jungmin, 2014. "The long-run impact of a traumatic experience on risk aversion," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 174-186.
    13. Amelie F. Constant & Annabelle Krause & Ulf Rinne & Klaus F. Zimmermann, 2011. "Economic preferences and attitudes of the unemployed," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 32(7), pages 825-851, October.
    14. Cameron, Lisa & Erkal, Nisvan & Gangadharan, Lata & Zhang, Marina, 2015. "Cultural integration: Experimental evidence of convergence in immigrants’ preferences," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 38-58.
    15. Deole, Sumit S. & Rieger, Marc Oliver, 2022. "Immigrant-native gap in risk and time preferences in Germany: Levels, socio-economic determinants, and recent changes," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1055, Global Labor Organization (GLO).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    second generation effects; risk attitudes; ethnic persistence; gender; assimilation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D1 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior
    • D81 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty
    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J62 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Job, Occupational and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion
    • J82 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Standards - - - Labor Force Composition

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