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Cultural Biases in Migration: Estimating Non-Monetary Migration Costs

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  • Falck, Oliver

    (Ifo Institute for Economic Research)

  • Lameli, Alfred

    (University of Marburg)

  • Ruhose, Jens

    (University of Kiel)

Abstract

Ever since Sjaastad (1962), researchers have struggled to quantify the psychic costs of migration. We monetize psychic cost as the wage premium for moving to a culturally different location. We combine administrative social security panel data with a proxy for cultural difference based on historical dialect dissimilarity between German counties. Conditional on geographic distance and pre-migration wage profiles, we find that migrants demand a (indexed with respect to local rents) wage premium of about 1 (1.5) percent for overcoming one standard deviation in cultural dissimilarity. The effect is driven by males and those who earn above average occupational wages before migration, more pronounced for geographically short moves, and persistent over time.

Suggested Citation

  • Falck, Oliver & Lameli, Alfred & Ruhose, Jens, 2015. "Cultural Biases in Migration: Estimating Non-Monetary Migration Costs," IZA Discussion Papers 8922, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8922
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    3. Wu, Xianhua & Deng, Huai & Huang, Yuxiang & Guo, Ji, 2022. "Air pollution, migration costs, and urban residents’ welfare: A spatial general equilibrium analysis from China," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 396-409.
    4. Kenji Kondoh, 2020. "A paradoxical immigration restriction policy for unskilled illegal immigrants," Asia-Pacific Journal of Regional Science, Springer, vol. 4(2), pages 479-497, June.
    5. Jens Suedekum, 2018. "Economic effects of differences in dialect," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 414-414, January.
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    7. Imran Arif, 2020. "The determinants of international migration: Unbundling the role of economic, political and social institutions," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(6), pages 1699-1729, June.
    8. Tim Krieger & Laura Renner & Jens Ruhose, 2015. "Genetic Distance and International Migrant Selection," CESifo Working Paper Series 5453, CESifo.
    9. Kremer, Anna, 2020. "Home is where the heart is? How regional identity hinders internal migration in Germany," CEPIE Working Papers 05/20, Technische Universität Dresden, Center of Public and International Economics (CEPIE).
    10. Xiong, Jiacai & Yang, Zelin & Wang, Xin & Chan, Kam C., 2023. "Does dialect diversity affect entrepreneurial activities? Evidence from China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    11. Bach Nguyen, 2022. "Internal migration and earnings: Do migrant entrepreneurs and migrant employees differ?," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 101(4), pages 901-944, August.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    migration costs; culture; internal migration; psychic cost;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D51 - Microeconomics - - General Equilibrium and Disequilibrium - - - Exchange and Production Economies
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
    • R23 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population

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