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Long Lasting Differences in Civic Capital: Evidence from a Unique Immigration Event in Italy

Author

Listed:
  • Bracco, Emanuele

    (Lancaster University)

  • De Paola, Maria

    (University of Calabria)

  • Green, Colin P.

    (Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU))

Abstract

A range of evidence exists demonstrating that social capital is associated with a number of important economic outcomes such as economic growth, trade and crime. A recent literature goes further to illustrate how historical events and variation can lead to the development of differing and consequential social norms. This paper examines the related questions of how persistent initial variations in social capital are, and the extent to which immigrant groups, do or do not converge to the cultural and social norms of their recipient country by examining a unique and geographically concentrated immigration event in 16th century Italy. We demonstrate that despite the substantial time since migration these communities still display different behaviour consistent with higher civic capital than other comparable Italian communities. Moreover, we demonstrate that this difference does not appear to have changed over the last 70 years. For instance, differences in voter turnout apparent in the late 1940s remain in the 21st century. This latter finding has implications for our view of the likelihood of assimilation of immigrant groups to local norms, particularly in cases of large-scale migration.

Suggested Citation

  • Bracco, Emanuele & De Paola, Maria & Green, Colin P., 2015. "Long Lasting Differences in Civic Capital: Evidence from a Unique Immigration Event in Italy," IZA Discussion Papers 8808, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
  • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8808
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    Cited by:

    1. Lockwood, Ben & Porcelli, Francesco & Redoano, Michela & Bracco, Emanuele & Liberini, Federica & Sgroi, Daniel, 2020. "The Effects of Social Capital on Government Performance and Turnover: Theory and Evidence from Italian Municipalities," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 1284, University of Warwick, Department of Economics.
    2. Francesca Maria Calamunci & Federico Fabio Frattini, 2023. "When Crime Tears Communities Apart: Social Capital and Organised Crime," Working Papers 2023.08, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    3. Bartscher, Alina Kristin & Seitz, Sebastian & Siegloch, Sebastian & Slotwinski, Michaela & Wehrhöfer, Nils, 2021. "Social capital and the spread of covid-19: Insights from european countries," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    4. Giampaolo Lecce & Laura Ogliari & Tommaso Orlando, 2017. "Resistance to Institutions and Cultural Distance: Brigandage in Post-Unification Italy," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 2097R, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University, revised Dec 2017.
    5. Giuseppe Albanese & Emma Galli & Ilde Rizzo & Carla Scaglioni, 2021. "Transparency, civic capital and political accountability: A virtuous relation?," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 74(2), pages 155-169, May.
    6. Giulia Montresor & Lucia Schiavon, 2024. "Social capital and vaccination compliance: Evidence from Italy," Working Papers 2024: 04, Department of Economics, University of Venice "Ca' Foscari".
    7. Štěpán Mikula & Tommaso Reggiani & Fabio Sabatini, 2023. "The long-term impact of religion on social capital: lessons from post-war Czechoslovakia," MUNI ECON Working Papers 2023-03, Masaryk University.
    8. Giuseppe Albanese & Emma Galli & Ilde Rizzo & Carla Scaglioni, 2019. "Building the Glass House: Transparency and Civic Capital across Italian municipalities," Working papers 84, Società Italiana di Economia Pubblica.
    9. Bracco, Emanuele, 2018. "A fine collection: The political budget cycle of traffic enforcement," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 117-120.
    10. Bracco, Emanuele & Liberini, Federica & Lockwood, Ben & Porcelli, Francesco & Redoano, Michela & Sgroi, Daniel, 2021. "The Effects of Social Capital on Government Performance and Turnover : Theory and Evidence from Italian Municipalities," QAPEC Discussion Papers 04, Quantitative and Analytical Political Economy Research Centre.
    11. Giampaolo Lecce & Laura Ogliari & Tommaso Orlando, 2022. "State formation, social unrest and cultural distance," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 27(3), pages 453-483, September.
    12. Nadia Fiorino & Emma Galli & Nicola Pontarollo, 2021. "Does Social Capital Affect Voter Turnout? Evidence from Italy," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 156(1), pages 289-309, July.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    social capital; electoral turnout; migration; persistence;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • A13 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Relation of Economics to Social Values
    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • P16 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Capitalist Economies - - - Capitalist Institutions; Welfare State

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