Family ties and political participation
01 Oct 2011-Journal of the European Economic Association (Oxford University Press (OUP))-Vol. 9, Iss: 5, pp 817-839
TL;DR: This paper found an inverse relationship between family ties and political participation, such that the more individuals rely on the family as a provider of services, insurance, and transfer of resources, the lower is one's political participation and civic engagement.
Abstract: We establish an inverse relationship between family ties and political participation, such that the more individuals rely on the family as a provider of services, insurance, and transfer of resources, the lower is one’s civic engagement and political participation. We also show that strong family ties appear to be a substitute for generalized trust, rather than a complement to it. These three constructs—civic engagement, political participation, and trust—are part of what is known as social capital; therefore, in this paper, we contribute to the investigation of the origin and evolution of social capital. We establish these results using within-country evidence and looking at the behavior of immigrants from various countries in 32 different destination places (JEL: P16, Z10, Z13).
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3,713 citations
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TL;DR: This article found that the descendants of societies that traditionally practiced plough agriculture, today have lower rates of female participation in the workplace, in politics, and in entrepreneurial activities, as well as a greater prevalence of attitudes favoring gender inequality.
Abstract: This paper seeks to better understand the historical origins of current differences in norms and beliefs about the appropriate role of women in society. We test the hypothesis that traditional agricultural practices influenced the historical gender division of labor and the evolution and persistence of gender norms. We find that, consistent with existing hypotheses, the descendants of societies that traditionally practiced plough agriculture, today have lower rates of female participation in the workplace, in politics, and in entrepreneurial activities, as well as a greater prevalence of attitudes favoring gender inequality. We identify the causal impact of traditional plough use by exploiting variation in the historical geo-climatic suitability of the environment for growing crops that differentially benefited from the adoption of the plough. Our IV estimates, based on this variation, support the findings from OLS. To isolate the importance of cultural transmission as a mechanism, we examine female labor force participation of second-generation immigrants living within the US.
1,189 citations
TL;DR: A growing body of empirical work measuring different types of cultural traits has shown that culture matters for a variety of economic outcomes as mentioned in this paper, focusing on one specific aspect of the relevance of culture: its relationship to institutions.
Abstract: A growing body of empirical work measuring different types of cultural traits has shown that culture matters for a variety of economic outcomes. This paper focuses on one specific aspect of the relevance of culture: its relationship to institutions. We review work with a theoretical, empirical, and historical bent to assess the presence of a two-way causal effect between culture and institutions. ( JEL D02, D72, I32, J12, Z13)
977 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors developed a new method to uncover the causal effect of trust on economic growth by focusing on the inherited component of trust and its time variation and showed that inherited trust of descendants of US immigrants is significantly influenced by the country of origin and the timing of arrival of their forebears.
Abstract: This paper develops a new method to uncover the causal effect of trust on economic growth by focusing on the inherited component of trust and its time variation. We show that inherited trust of descendants of US immigrants is sig- nificantly influenced by the country of origin and the timing of arrival of their forebears. We thus use the inherited trust of descendants of US immigrants as a time-varying measure of inherited trust in their country of origin. This strategy allows to identify the sizeable causal impact of inherited trust on worldwide growth during the twentieth century by controlling for country fixed effects. (JEL N11, N12, N31, N32, O47, Z13)
965 citations
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TL;DR: A review of the literature on culture and economics, focusing primarily on the epidemiological approach, is presented in this article, where a variety of issues including female labor force participaiton, fertility, labor market regulation, redistribution, growth, and financial development among others.
Abstract: This paper reviews the literature on culture and economics, focusing primarily on the epidemiological approach. The epidemiological approach studies the variation in outcomes across different immigrant groups residing in the same country. Immigrants presumably differ in their cultures but share a common institutional and economic environment. This allows one to separate the effect of culture from the original economic and institutional environment. This approach has been used to study a variety of issues, including female labor force participaiton, fertility, labor market regulation, redistribution, growth, and financial development among others. JEL Nos: O10, Z1, D01, D1
625 citations
Cites background or methods from "Family ties and political participa..."
...Second, Alesina and Giuliano (2009) use questions in the WVS to construct a measure of the average strength of family ties across European countries.24 They rst show that, within a country, individual answers to these questions have predictive value for an individual s political participation and…...
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...For further details, see Alesina and Giuliano (2009). of labor relations, whereas the unionization rate is positively correlated with these beliefs....
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References
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TL;DR: Putnam et al. as discussed by the authors analyzed the efficacy of these governments in such fields as agriculture, housing, and health services, revealing patterns of associationism, trust, and cooperation that facilitate good governance and economic prosperity.
Abstract: Why do some democratic governments succeed and others fail? In a book that has received attention from policymakers and civic activists in America and around the world, Robert Putnam and his collaborators offer empirical evidence for the importance of "civic community" in developing successful institutions Their focus is on a unique experiment begun in 1970 when Italy created new governments for each of its regions After spending two decades analyzing the efficacy of these governments in such fields as agriculture, housing, and health services, they reveal patterns of associationism, trust, and cooperation that facilitate good governance and economic prosperity
13,915 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1995
TL;DR: Fukuyama as discussed by the authors argued that the end of the Cold War would also mean the beginning of a struggle for position in the rapidly emerging order of 21st-century capitalism and argued that in an era when social capital may be as important as physical capital, only those societies with a high degree of social trust will be able to create the flexible, large scale business organizations that are needed to compete in the new global economy.
Abstract: In his bestselling "The End of History and the Last Man", Francis Fukuyama argued that the end of the Cold War would also mean the beginning of a struggle for position in the rapidly emerging order of 21st-century capitalism. In "Trust", a penetrating assessment of the emerging global economic order "after History", he explains the social principles of economic life and tells us what we need to know to win the coming struggle for world dominance. Challenging orthodoxies of both the left and right, Fukuyama examines a wide range of national cultures in order to divine the underlying principles that foster social and economic prosperity. Insisting that we cannot divorce economic life from cultural life, he contends that in an era when social capital may be as important as physical capital, only those societies with a high degree of social trust will be able to create the flexible, large-scale business organizations that are needed to compete in the new global economy. A brilliant study of the interconnectedness of economic life with cultural life, "Trust" is also an essential antidote to the increasing drift of American culture into extreme forms of individualism, which, if unchecked, will have dire consequences for the nation's economic health.
7,506 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1995
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors define political participation as "how much? about what?" and "who participates" and "race, ethnicity, and gender" in the context of political participation.
Abstract: * *1. Introduction * Part I: The World of Participation *2. Defining Political Participation *3. Political Participation: How Much? About What? *4. Interpreting Political Activity: A Report from Activists *5. Recruiting Political Activists * Part II: Participation and Representation *6. Thinking about Participatory Representation *7. Who Participates? Economic Circumstances and Needs *8. Who Participates? Race, Ethnicity, and Gender * Part III: The Civic Voluntarism Model *9. Explaining Participation: Introductory Considerations *10. Resources for Politics: Time and Money *11. Resources for Politics: Civic Skills *12. Resources, Engagement, and Political Activity *13. Institutions and Recruitment *14. Participation and the Politics of Issue Engagement *15. From Generation to Generation: The Roots of [incomplete]
6,356 citations
TL;DR: This article found evidence of both massive cultural change and the persistence of distinctive cultural traditions in 65 societies and 75 percent of the world's population using data from the three waves of the World Values Surveys.
Abstract: Modernization theorists from Karl Marx to Daniel Bell have argued that economic development brings pervasive cultural changes. But others, from Max Weber to Samuel Huntington, have claimed that cultural values are an enduring and autonomous influence on society. We test the thesis that economic development is linked with systematic changes in basic values. Using data from the three waves of the World Values Surveys, which include 65 societies and 75 percent of the world's population, we find evidence of both massive cultural change and the persistence of distinctive cultural traditions. Economic development is associated with shifts away from absolute norms and values toward values that are increasingly rational, tolerant, trusting, and participatory. Cultural change, however, is path dependent. The broad cultural heritage of a society - Protestant, Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Confucian, or Communist - leaves an imprint on values that endures despite modernization. Moreover, the differences between the values held by members of different religions within given societies are much smaller than are cross-national differences. Once established, such cross-cultural differences become part of a national culture transmitted by educational institutions and mass media. We conclude with some proposed revisions of modernization theory
4,551 citations