TY - UNPB

T1 - Those Who Stayed: Individualism, Self-Selection and Cultural Change During the Age of Mass Migration

AU - Knudsen, Anne Sofie Beck

PY - 2019/1/31

Y1 - 2019/1/31

N2 - This paper examines the joint evolution of emigration and individualism in Scandinavia during the Age of Mass Migration (1850-1920). A long-standing hypothesis holds that people of a stronger individualistic mindset are more likely to migrate as they suffer lower costs of abandoning existing social networks. Building on this hypothesis, I propose a theory of cultural change where migrant self-selection generates a relative push away from individualism, and towards collectivism, in migrant-sending locations through a combination of initial distributional effects and channels of intergenerational cultural transmission. Due to the interdependent relationship between emigration and individualism, emigration is furthermore associated with cultural convergence across subnational locations. I combine various sources of empirical data, including historical population census records and passenger lists of emigrants, and test the relevant elements of the proposed theory at the individual and subnational.

AB - This paper examines the joint evolution of emigration and individualism in Scandinavia during the Age of Mass Migration (1850-1920). A long-standing hypothesis holds that people of a stronger individualistic mindset are more likely to migrate as they suffer lower costs of abandoning existing social networks. Building on this hypothesis, I propose a theory of cultural change where migrant self-selection generates a relative push away from individualism, and towards collectivism, in migrant-sending locations through a combination of initial distributional effects and channels of intergenerational cultural transmission. Due to the interdependent relationship between emigration and individualism, emigration is furthermore associated with cultural convergence across subnational locations. I combine various sources of empirical data, including historical population census records and passenger lists of emigrants, and test the relevant elements of the proposed theory at the individual and subnational.

KW - culture

KW - individualism

KW - migration

KW - selection

KW - economic history

KW - culture

KW - individualism

KW - migration

KW - selection

KW - economic history

KW - Z10

KW - F22

KW - O15

KW - R23

KW - N33

U2 - 10.2139/ssrn.3321790

DO - 10.2139/ssrn.3321790

M3 - Working paper

T3 - University of Copenhagen. Institute of Economics. Discussion Papers (Online)

BT - Those Who Stayed: Individualism, Self-Selection and Cultural Change During the Age of Mass Migration

ER -