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Culture, Selection, and International Migration

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  • Renner, Laura
  • Krieger, Tim
  • Ruhose, Jens

Abstract

This paper looks at the e ffect of cultural barriers on the skill selection of international migration. The data covers bilateral migration stocks by skill level in 2000 from about 99 sending countries to the main 15 destination countries. We use genetic distance as a proxy for cultural distance and exploit exogenous variation in genetic distance in 1500 to show that a higher genetic distance leads to a higher selectivity of migrants. This reveals that cultural traits are an important determinant of the skill mix of current migrant populations.

Suggested Citation

  • Renner, Laura & Krieger, Tim & Ruhose, Jens, 2014. "Culture, Selection, and International Migration," VfS Annual Conference 2014 (Hamburg): Evidence-based Economic Policy 100434, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:vfsc14:100434
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    Cited by:

    1. Jens Ruhose, 2015. "Microeconometric Analyses on Economic Consequences of Selective Migration," ifo Beiträge zur Wirtschaftsforschung, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, number 61, March.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
    • Z10 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - General

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