Measuring Ethnic Identity and Its Impact on Economic Behaviour

Klaus Zimmermann () and Amelie Constant

No 6466, CEPR Discussion Papers from Centre for Economic Policy Research

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 behaviour like work participation, earnings and housing decisions demonstrates the significant relevance of ethnic identity for economic outcomes.

Keywords: Work; Migrant assimilation; Cultural economics; Ethnicity; Ethnic identity; Acculturation; Migrant integration (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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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Measuring Ethnic Identity and its Impact on Economic Behavior (2008)
Working Paper: Measuring Ethnic Identity and Its Impact on Economic Behavior (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)
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