TY  - JOUR
AU  - Luttmer,Erzo F.P.
AU  - Singhal,Monica
TI  - Culture, Context, and the Taste for Redistribution
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 14268
PY  - 2008
Y2  - August 2008
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w14268
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w14268.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Erzo F.P. Luttmer
6106 Rockefeller Center, Room 305
Department of Economics
Dartmouth College
Hanover, NH 03755
Tel: 603/646-6479
E-Mail: Erzo.FP.Luttmer@Dartmouth.Edu

Monica Singhal
Harvard University
JFK School of Government
79 JFK Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Tel: 617/496-5062
Fax: 617/496-6372
E-Mail: monica_singhal@harvard.edu
AB  - Is culture an important determinant of preferences for redistribution?  To separate the effect of culture from the effect of the economic and institutional environment ("context"), we relate immigrants' preferences for redistribution to the average preference in their birth countries, controlling extensively for individual characteristics and country-of-residence fixed effects.  We find a strong positive relationship.  This cultural effect is larger for non-voters, those with shorter tenure in the country of residence, and those who move to countries with a large number of immigrants from their own birth countries. Immigrants from countries with a higher preference for redistribution are also more likely to vote for a more pro-redistribution political party.  The effect of culture persists strongly into the second generation.
ER  -