Cultural Values and Productivity
(2024) In Journal of Political Economy 132(1). p.295-335- Abstract
This paper estimates differences in human capital as country-of-origin specific labor productivity terms in firm production functions, making it immune to wage discrimination concerns. After accounting for education and experience, estimated human capital varies by a factor of around three between the 90th and the 10th percentile. When I investigate which country-of-origin characteristics most closely correlate with human capital, cultural values are the only robust predictor. This relationship persists among children of migrants. Consistent with a plausible cultural mechanism, individuals whose origin places a high value on autonomy hold a comparative advantage in positions characterized by a low degree of routinization.
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/c3804ea4-c942-462b-b1aa-56c45377a9d3
- author
- Ek, Andreas LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2024-01
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- Journal of Political Economy
- volume
- 132
- issue
- 1
- pages
- 41 pages
- publisher
- University of Chicago
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85183177799
- ISSN
- 0022-3808
- DOI
- 10.1086/726239
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- c3804ea4-c942-462b-b1aa-56c45377a9d3
- date added to LUP
- 2024-02-20 14:32:24
- date last changed
- 2024-02-20 14:33:04
@article{c3804ea4-c942-462b-b1aa-56c45377a9d3,
abstract = {{<p>This paper estimates differences in human capital as country-of-origin specific labor productivity terms in firm production functions, making it immune to wage discrimination concerns. After accounting for education and experience, estimated human capital varies by a factor of around three between the 90th and the 10th percentile. When I investigate which country-of-origin characteristics most closely correlate with human capital, cultural values are the only robust predictor. This relationship persists among children of migrants. Consistent with a plausible cultural mechanism, individuals whose origin places a high value on autonomy hold a comparative advantage in positions characterized by a low degree of routinization.</p>}},
author = {{Ek, Andreas}},
issn = {{0022-3808}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{1}},
pages = {{295--335}},
publisher = {{University of Chicago}},
series = {{Journal of Political Economy}},
title = {{Cultural Values and Productivity}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/726239}},
doi = {{10.1086/726239}},
volume = {{132}},
year = {{2024}},
}