Comfort and Conformity: A Culture-based Theory of Migration

This paper proposes a theory of migration decisions in which cultural values play a role. Individuals are assumed to desire comfort (high wages) and conformity (sharing similar values in social interactions). Regions are assumed to differ economically (average wages) and culturally (the distribution of values). The theory predicts that the relationship between individual values and the desire to move to a different region may be U-shaped, hump-shaped or monotonic, depending on relative wages and on the relative cultural diversity at the origin and destination. The theory implies that (1) Tieboutian sorting (people moving to the region in which cultural values are closest to theirs) only holds when regions have similar wages and similar levels of cultural diversity and (2) migration makes culturally diverse regions more diverse and culturally homogeneous regions more homogeneous. An investigation of migration intentions in relation with individual values, using data from the Life in Transition III survey, lends empirical support to the theory. Co-authored with Ruxanda Berlinschi.

Registration is free but essential via Eventbrite.