Cultural Gravity Effects among Migrants: A Comparative Analysis of the EU15

Abstract

This article introduces cultural gravity as a concept that serves to better disentangle the direction and magnitude of the effects from migration, which is controversial in recent literature. The aim is to test for cultural gravity effects on both the geographic concentration and human capital productivity of immigrants in the EU15 countries. Operationally, we proceed to construct an empirical cultural gravity measure and test it with the use of a composite cross‐sectional database, comprising, inter alia, the World Value Survey and Eurostat Census data. After an initial exploration of relevant cultural data by means of multivariate statistical analysis, we present an extended formulation of a gravity model approached through logistic regression methods and a three‐stage least‐squares estimation. Our results clearly demonstrate the existence of a cultural gravity effect among immigrants. Finally, an interesting finding is that cultural gravity also plays a significant role in the context of the Culture‐Based Development (CBD) growth model.