The Weight of History on European Cultural Integration: A Gravity Approach
American Economic Review
vol. 101,
no. 3, May 2011
(pp. 504-08)
Abstract
The cultural gravity model proposed in this paper uses micro-level survey data of 21,000 households to estimate the contribution to cultural heterogeneity of a long history of division between the Ottoman, Habsburg, Russian or Prussian Empires since the year 1300 in 21 European countries. By exploiting the variation in the duration of integration of localities in different empires, this paper sheds light on the influence of political integration on cultural integration and on the rate of cultural change. History matters and cultural values change very slowly: long lasting effects on social trust comes after 400 years of common imperial rule.Citation
Grosjean, Pauline. 2011. "The Weight of History on European Cultural Integration: A Gravity Approach." American Economic Review, 101 (3): 504-08. DOI: 10.1257/aer.101.3.504Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- Z13 Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Social and Economic Stratification