Dialects, Cultural Identity, and Economic Exchange

• DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.1552677
• Publication Date: 2021-11-17T09:57:45Z
• Authors: Oliver Falck; Stephan Heblich; Alfred Lameli; Jens Südekum
• Keywords: Similarity (geometry); Cultural Exchange

We investigate whether time-persistent cultural borders impede economic exchange across regions of the same country. To measure differences we evaluate, for first time in economics, linguistic micro-data about phonological and grammatical features German dialects. These data are taken from a unique survey conducted between 1879 1888 45,000 schools. Matching this information to 439 current regions, construct dialect similarity matrix. Using gravity analysis, show that cross-regional migration is positively affected by historical similarity. This suggests identities formed past still influence today.