German family policy increasingly aims at setting incentives for an increase in the fertility rate and for reconciling family life and work. While demographic change makes these objectives highly desirable, it is questionable whether the creation of a better institutional and financial background alone will be sufficient to reach them. Although the relevance of financial incentives for individual behaviour is widely acknowledged, decisions on family arrangements are likely to depend also on cultural factors. The present research project therefore aims to identify the impact of cultural factors on fertility, female labour force participation, and on the choice of child care arrangements. For that purpose, we employ two complementary empirical strategies: First, information on behaviour of female migrants is combined with data on average female labour force participation, fertility, and attitudes towards women in their country of origin. Second, migration between West- and East-Germany will be used to identify the effect of socialisation in the former GDR on current working and child care choices of women.