The economics of cultural transmission and socialization
By: Alberto Bisin, Thierry Verdier
Contributors: Verdier, Thierry; National Bureau of Economic Research
Series: NBER working paper series -- working paper 16512; Working paper series (National Bureau of Economic Research : Online) -- working paper no. 16512.
Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research
Published: 2010
Place of publication: Cambridge, MA
Language: eng
Format: [electronic resource] /
Description: "Cultural transmission arguably plays an important role in the determination of many fundamental preference traits (e.g., discounting, risk aversion and altruism) and most cultural traits, social norms, and ideological tenets ( e.g., attitudes towards family and fertility practices, and attitudes in the job market).  It is, however, the pervasive evidence of the resilience of ethnic and religious traits across generations that motivates a large fraction of the theoretical and empirical literature on cultural transmission.  This article reviews the main contributions of models of cultural transmission, from theoretical and empirical perspectives.  It presents their implications regarding the long-run population dynamics of cultural traits and cultural heterogeneity, the world's geographical fragmentation by ethic and religious traits, at any given time.  Finally, the paper reviews the empirical literature which estimates various properties of cultural transmission mechanisms as well as the population dynamics of specific traits"--National Bureau of Economic Research web site.
Notes: Title from PDF file as viewed on 3/22/2011.

Includes bibliographical references.

Also available in print.

System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Mode of access: World Wide Web.