Migration, friendship ties, and cultural assimilation

Facchini, Giovanni; Patacchini, Eleanora; Steinhardt, Max F.

Abstract

We study migrants’ assimilation by analyzing whether friendship with natives is a measure of cultural assimilation and by investigating the formation of social ties. Using the German Socio-Economic Panel, we find that migrants with a German friend are more similar to natives than those without along several important dimensions, including concerns about the economy, interest in politics and a host of policy issues. Turning to friendship acquisition, we find that becoming employed, time spent in the host country, the birth of a child, residential mobility and additional education acquired in the host country are significant drivers of social network variation.

Citation

Facchini, G., Patacchini, E., & Steinhardt, M. F. (2015). Migration, friendship ties, and cultural assimilation. Scandinavian Journal of Economics, 117(2), https://doi.org/10.1111/sjoe.12096

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Online Publication Date: Nov 27, 2014
• Publication Date: Apr 1, 2015
• Deposit Date: Nov 9, 2015
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 9, 2015
• Journal: Scandinavian Journal of Economics
• Print ISSN: 0347-0520
• Electronic ISSN: 1467-9442
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 117
• Issue: 2
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/sjoe.12096
• Keywords: Culture, Social Network Formation, Ethnic minorities
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/984235
• Publisher URL: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/sjoe.12096/full
• Additional Information: This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Facchini, G., Patacchini, E. and Steinhardt, M. F. (2015), Migration, Friendship Ties, and Cultural Assimilation. The Scandinavian Journal of Economics, 117: 619–649, which has been published in final form at doi: 10.1111/sjoe.12096; This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.; ; This article is part of the CEPR project ‘Temporary Migration, Integration and the role of Policies’ (TEMPO) funded by the NORFACE Research Programme: ‘Migration in Europe—Social, Economic, Cultural and Policy Dynamics’