Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP13653
Authors: David Atkin; Eve Colson; Moses Shayo
Abstract: Are identities fungible? How do people come to identify with specific groups? This paper proposes a revealed preference approach, using food consumption to uncover ethnic and religious identity choices in India. We first show that consumption of identity goods (e.g. beef and pork) responds to forces suggested by social-identity research: group status and group salience, with the latter proxied by inter-group conflict. Moreover, identity choices respond to the cost of following the group's prescribed behaviors. We propose and estimate a modified demand system to quantify the identity changes that followed India's 1991 economic reforms. While social-identity research has focused on status and salience, economic costs appear to play a dominant role.
Keywords: No keywords provided
JEL Codes: No JEL codes provided
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| group status (C92) | consumption of identity goods (D16) |
| group salience (C92) | consumption of identity goods (D16) |
| intergroup conflict (D74) | group salience (C92) |
| economic costs (D61) | consumption of identity goods (D16) |
| group salience (C92) | adherence to religious taboos (Z12) |
| heightened intergroup conflict (D74) | abstention from beef by Hindus (Z12) |
| heightened intergroup conflict (D74) | increased beef consumption by Muslims (Z12) |
| rising relative status of religious identity (Z12) | increased adherence to identity norms (C92) |
| costs of adhering to group behaviors (C92) | likelihood of identifying with that group (C92) |
| demand for taboos (Z12) | elasticity compared to non-taboos (Z13) |