Is cultural distance a determinant of international migration flows? Evidence from Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands

We examine the relationship between source-destination country cultural differences and international migration flows using data for three immigrant destination countries (i.e., Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands) and a cohort of 66 heterogeneous immigrant source countries during the years 1997-2002. Results obtained from the estimation of our empirical specifications using the Negative Binomial regression technique indicate that, all else equal, cultural distance is negatively related to migration flows and that larger existing immigrant stocks correspond with larger subsequent migration flows. These findings are consistent with the results reported in Belot and Ederveen (2012). Extending the literature, we report that existing immigrant stocks act to offset the migration-inhibiting influences of cultural distance. Finally, we report variation across Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands both in terms of the migration-inhibiting influence of cultural distance and in the extents to which existing immigrant stocks act to offset this influence.