DP6466 Measuring Ethnic Identity and Its Impact on Economic Behaviour

Author(s): Amelie Constant , Klaus F. Zimmermann

Publication Date: September 2007

Keyword(s): work , migrant assimilation , cultural economics , ethnicity , ethnic identity , acculturation , migrant integration

JEL(s): F22 , J15 , J16 , Z10

Programme Areas: Labour Economics

Link to this Page: www.cepr.org/pubs/dps/DP6466.asp.asp

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.