Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP6466
Authors: Amelie Constant; Klaus F. Zimmermann
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: Acculturation; Cultural Economics; Ethnic Identity; Ethnicity; Migrant Assimilation; Migrant Integration; Work
JEL Codes: F22; J15; J16; Z10
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Ethnic identity (J15) | work participation (J22) |
| Full assimilation of male migrants (F22) | work participation (J22) |
| Complete separation (Y40) | work participation (J22) |
| Marginalization (F63) | work participation (J22) |
| Ethnic identity (J15) | average monthly earnings of male migrants (J61) |
| Full integration (F15) | average monthly earnings of female migrants (J31) |
| Marginalization (F63) | average monthly earnings of female migrants (J31) |