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Cultural Values and Decision to Work of Immigrant Women in Italy

Author

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  • Scoppa, Vincenzo

    (University of Calabria)

  • Stranges, Manuela

    (University of Calabria)

Abstract

We investigate the role of culture in explaining economic outcomes at individual level analyzing how cultural values from the home country affect the decision to work of immigrants in Italy, using the National Survey of Households with Immigrants. Following the "epidemiological approach", we relate the probability of being employed in Italy for immigrant women with the female labor force participation (LFP) in their country of origin, taken as a proxy of cultural heritage and gender role model. Controlling for a number of individual and household characteristics, we show that participation in the labor market is affected both by the culture of females' and by their husband's origin countries. We also show that the relationship between own decisions in the host country and home country LFP cannot be attributed to human capital quality or discrimination and it turns out to be stronger for immigrants that maintained more intense ties with their origin countries. Finally, we investigate to what extent cultural influence is driven by religious beliefs: we find that religion is a key determinant of differences in female labor decisions, but, besides religion, other cultural values exert additional influence.

Suggested Citation

  • Scoppa, Vincenzo & Stranges, Manuela, 2014. "Cultural Values and Decision to Work of Immigrant Women in Italy," IZA Discussion Papers 8522, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8522
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    Cited by:

    1. Pelin AKYOL & Çağla ÖKTEN, 2024. "The role of religion in female labor supply: evidence from two Muslim denominations," JODE - Journal of Demographic Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 90(1), pages 116-153, March.
    2. Elisa Brini & Anna Zamberlan & Paolo Barbieri, 2022. "Culture portability from origin to destination country: The gender division of domestic work among migrants in Italy," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 47(20), pages 577-614.
    3. De Paola, Maria & Lombardo, Rosetta & Pupo, Valeria & Scoppa, Vincenzo, 2021. "Do Women Shy Away from Public Speaking? A Field Experiment," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    4. Akyol, Pelin & Okten, Cagla, 2019. "The Role of Culture on Female Labor Supply: Evidence from Turkey," IZA Discussion Papers 12620, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Markowsky, Eva, 2022. "Culture, Female Labour Force Participation, and Selective Migrationː New Meta-Analytic Evidence," WiSo-HH Working Paper Series 65, University of Hamburg, Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences, WISO Research Laboratory.
    6. Han Dongcheng & Kong Fanbo & Wang Zixun, 2021. "Gender identity and relative income within household: Evidence from China," Papers 2110.08723, arXiv.org.
    7. Manuela Stranges, 2022. "The Intergenerational Transmission of Female Labour Force Participation by Gender among Native and Immigrant Europeans: A Focus on Religion," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 43(4), pages 774-798, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    culture; immigration; labor force participation; epidemiological approach; gender; Italy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Z10 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - General
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification
    • J10 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - General
    • 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
    • J20 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - General

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