Measuring Ethnic Identity and Its Impact on Economic Behavior

Amelie Constant () and Klaus F. Zimmermann ()

No 3063, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)

Abstract: The paper advocates for a new measure of the ethnic identity of migrants, models its determinants and explores its explanatory power for various types of their economic performance. The ethnosizer, a measure of the intensity of a person's ethnic identity, is constructed from information on the following elements: language, culture, societal interaction, history of migration, and ethnic self-identification. A two-dimensional concept of the ethnosizer classifies migrants into four states: integration, assimilation, separation and marginalization. The ethnosizer largely depends on pre-migration characteristics. Empirical evidence studying economic behavior like work participation, earnings and housing decisions demonstrates the significant relevance of ethnic identity for economic outcomes.

Keywords: ethnicity; ethnic identity; acculturation; migrant assimilation; migrant integration; work; cultural economics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F22 J15 J16 Z10 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2007-09
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Related works:
Working Paper: Measuring Ethnic Identity and Its Impact on Economic Behaviour (2007)
Working Paper: Measuring Ethnic Identity and Its Impact on Economic Behavior (2007)
Working Paper: Measuring Ethnic Identity and Its Impact on Economic Behavior (2007)
Journal Article: Measuring Ethnic Identity and its Impact on Economic Behavior (2008)
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