This paper analyzes whether the propensity to secede by subnational regions responds mostly to differences in income per capita or to distinct identities. We explore this question in a quantitative political economy model where people's willingness to finance a public good depends on their...

The role of ethnic clustering in ethnic identity formation has remained unexplored, mainly due to missing detailed data. This study closes the knowledge gap for Germany by employing a unique combination of datasets, the survey data from the German Socio-Economic Panel and disaggregated...

Why does inequality vary across societies? We advance the hypothesis that in a mar- ket economy, where earning differentials re ect variations in productive traits among individuals, a significant component of the differences in inequality across societies can be attributed to variation in...

Theory suggests that cultural similarity increases migration flows between countries. This paper brings best practices from the trade gravity literature to migration to test this prediction. In my preferred specification, I use lags of time-varying similarity variables in a panel of...

Bride price customs are widespread in many developing countries. While the economic literature has widely investigated the implications of such transfers on women's welfare, little is known about their consequences on men's premarital behavior. In this paper, we exploit a quasi-natural...

Bride kidnapping is a form of forced marriage in which a woman is taken against her will and coerced into accepting marriage with her captor. Post-Soviet Kyrgyzstan has seen a large increase in the prominence of this practice alongside a revitalization of traditional values and culture. As part...

A scarce literature deals with the consumption implications of cultural assimilation and integration, ethnic clustering and diasporas, the marginal propensity to consume, home production and allocation of time, ethnic consumption, migration, and trade, as well as native consumption responses....

We focus on both individual and local uncertainty to explain the innovation potential of entrepreneurs in the NUTS1 UK regions in 2005 and 2009. The ‘potential surprise function’ (Shackle, 1949) clarifying why sometimes promising business choices are truncated is taken as a determinant of an...

This paper empirically investigates whether emigrants from MENA countries self-select on cultural traits such as religiosity and gender-egalitarian attitudes. To do so, we use Gallup World Poll data on individual opinions and beliefs, migration aspirations, short-run migration plans, and...

In this paper we take a fresh look at the magnitude of the trade-off between caring informally for a parent and paid work. We adopt a simultaneous approach with a primary focus on how hours of care are influenced by hours of work rather than the other way round. We also investigate the role that...