tA range of evidence exists demonstrating that social capital is associated with a numberof important economic outcomes such as economic growth, trade and crime. A recentliterature goes further to illustrate how historical events and variation can lead to thedevelopment of differing and consequential social norms. This paper examines the relatedquestions of how persistent initial variations in social capital are, and the extent to whichimmigrant groups do or do not converge to the cultural and social norms of their recipi-ent country by examining a unique and geographically concentrated immigration event in16th century Italy. We demonstrate that despite the substantial time since migration thesecommunities still display different behavior consistent with higher civic capital than othercomparable Italian communities. Moreover, we demonstrate that this difference does notappear to have changed over the last 70 years. For instance, differences in voter turnoutapparent in the late 1940s remain in the 21st century. This latter finding has implications forour view of the likelihood of assimilation of immigrant groups to local norms, particularlyin cases of large-scale migration.
Long Lasting Differences in Civic Capital: Evidence from a Unique Immigration Event in Italy
DE PAOLA, Maria;
2015-01-01
Abstract
tA range of evidence exists demonstrating that social capital is associated with a numberof important economic outcomes such as economic growth, trade and crime. A recentliterature goes further to illustrate how historical events and variation can lead to thedevelopment of differing and consequential social norms. This paper examines the relatedquestions of how persistent initial variations in social capital are, and the extent to whichimmigrant groups do or do not converge to the cultural and social norms of their recipi-ent country by examining a unique and geographically concentrated immigration event in16th century Italy. We demonstrate that despite the substantial time since migration thesecommunities still display different behavior consistent with higher civic capital than othercomparable Italian communities. Moreover, we demonstrate that this difference does notappear to have changed over the last 70 years. For instance, differences in voter turnoutapparent in the late 1940s remain in the 21st century. This latter finding has implications forour view of the likelihood of assimilation of immigrant groups to local norms, particularlyin cases of large-scale migration.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
