nep-cul New Economics Papers
on Cultural Economics
Issue of 2026–05–04
two papers chosen by
Roberto Zanola, Università degli Studi del Piemonte Orientale
  1. Immigration, Identity Choices, and Cultural Diversity By Yasmine Elkhateeb; Riccardo Turati; Jérôme Valette
  2. Historical Ecospirituality and Environmental Attitudes By Paul C. Behler; Paulina Schröder
  1. By: Yasmine Elkhateeb; Riccardo Turati; Jérôme Valette
    Abstract: Does immigration challenge the identities, values, and cultural diversity of receiving societies? This paper addresses this question by analyzing the impact of immigration on cultural diversity in Europe between 2004 and 2018. It combines regional cultural diversity indices derived from the European Social Survey with immigration shares from the European Labor Force Survey. The results indicate that immigration increases the salience of birthplace identity along cultural lines, fostering a shift toward nativist identities among the native population. These identity shifts, in turn, trigger a process of cultural homogenization among natives. This effect is stronger in regions receiving culturally distant immigrants. It reflects a process of convergence toward the values of highly skilled liberal natives and divergence from those of low-skilled conservative immigrants.
    Keywords: Immigration, Social Identity, Cultural Diversity
    JEL: F22 D03 D72 Z10
    Date: 2025–11
    URL: https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:25120
  2. By: Paul C. Behler; Paulina Schröder
    Abstract: This paper studies ecospirituality - spiritual views that people have about the natural world. First, utilizing folklore data from around 1, 000 pre-industrial societies, we present the first comprehensive global measurement of ecospirituality. Our analysis reveals systematic cultural variation: ecospirituality is most prevalent in South America and least prevalent in Europe. Additionally, we find a strong negative correlation between ecospirituality and belief in high gods. Second, we study the potential impact of historical ecospirituality on current environmental attitudes. Combining data from the Integrated Values Survey with folklore, we find no statistically significant relationship between contemporary environmental attitudes and the prevalence of ecospirituality in the folklore of ones ancestors.
    Keywords: Environmental Attitudes, Ecospirituality, Folklore
    JEL: Q50 Z12 Z13
    Date: 2025–11
    URL: https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:2594
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