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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons

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Economics

2008

Cultural Distance

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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Do Immigrants Counter The Effect Of Cultural Distance On Trade? Evidence From Us State-Level Exports, Roger White, Bedassa Tadesse Dec 2008

Do Immigrants Counter The Effect Of Cultural Distance On Trade? Evidence From Us State-Level Exports, Roger White, Bedassa Tadesse

Economics

We examine the effects of immigrants and cultural distance on US state-level exports, placing emphasis on the extent to which immigrants may offset the influence of cultural distance with respect to the initiation and intensification of exports. Our findings suggest that greater cultural differences between the US and immigrants’ home countries reduce both the likelihood that exporting occurs and, when exporting is taking place, the level of exports. Immigrants are found to exert pro-export effects that offset, at least partially, the trade-inhibiting effects of cultural distance. The estimated effects of both cultural distance and immigrants are found to be greater …


Cultural Distance And The Us Immigrant-Trade Link, Roger White, Bedassa Tadesse Aug 2008

Cultural Distance And The Us Immigrant-Trade Link, Roger White, Bedassa Tadesse

Economics

Using data from the World and the European Values Surveys, we calculate cultural distances between the US and 54 immigrant home countries and examine the influences of cultural distance and immigrant populations on US imports from and exports to immigrants’ home countries during the years 1997–2004. Our study indicates that, for both US imports and exports, the trade‐enhancing effect of immigrants partially offsets the trade‐inhibiting effect of cultural distance. Further, decomposing our measure of cultural distance into two component dimensions and revisiting the immigrant–trade relationship, we find significant variation in the extent to which immigrants counter the trade‐inhibiting influences of …