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Working Paper

Community Leaders and the Preservation of Cultural Traits

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We explain persistent differences in cultural traits of immigrant groups with the presence of community leaders. Leaders influence the cultural traits of their community, which have an impact on the group's earnings. They determine whether a community will be more assimilated and wealthier or less assimilated and poorer. With a leader, cultural integration remains incomplete. The leader chooses more distinctive cultural traits in high-productivity environments and if the community is more connected. Lump-sum transfers to immigrants can hinder cultural integration. These findings are in line with integration patterns of various ethnic and religious groups.
Topics
Neighborhood quality
10.01.2015ISSN 2573-7953 WP 15-17DOI 10.26509/frbc-wp-201517
Keywords cultural integration, cultural transmission, leadership, immigrants, labor market outcomes, social influence, networks
JEL Classification Codes J15, Z10, D02

Working Papers of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland are preliminary materials circulated to stimulate discussion and critical comment on research in progress. They may not have been subject to the formal editorial review accorded official Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland publications. The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not represent the views of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland or the Federal Reserve System.

Suggested Citation

Prummer, Anja, and Jan-Peter Siedlarek. 2015. “Community Leaders and the Preservation of Cultural Traits.” Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, Working Paper No. 15-17. https://doi.org/10.26509/frbc-wp-201517