CULTURE AND LABOUR MARKET PARTICIPATION

In recent times, many economists have tried to explain various economic phenomena trying to identify and measure the effects of the cultural context of the economic system under observation. Starting with the seminal works of on culture and institutions, many authors have sought to measure the values and beliefs of individuals in order to use them in the estimates of various economic phenomena, such as: the relationship between culture, institutions and economic growth; the link between culture, work and fertility; the mechanism of intergenerational transmission of migrants to assess, inter alia, the role of culture in business decisions and fertility. This paper, based on these studies, aims to contribute to increase the awareness on the role of culture in the economic dynamic system and, more in depth, to investigate the role of culture on female participation of women in some European countries, especially from the South of the EU. To achieve this goal, data from survey EVS (European Values Study) have been used to create a "cultural" proxy and analysed against the female activity rates in a MVA.