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Title: Identity and Mobility: Theory and Evidence from the American Midwest

Citation Type: Miscellaneous

Publication Year: 2010

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Abstract: This paper investigates the role played by a cultural trait { identity { in determining occu-pational choice and mobility. The analysis links competition between migrant networks in theMidwest when it was rst developing and the community identity that emerged endogenously tosupport these networks in particular local areas (counties) to institutional participation and occu-pational choice today. Individuals born in counties with greater ethnic fractionalization in 1860,where our dynamic theory predicts a larger fraction of the population will be instilled with identityare (i) signi cantly more likely to participate in particular institutions that are associated with theinstilling of this cultural trait, and (ii) signi cantly less likely to select into mobile skilled occu-pations 150 years later. The e ect of 1860 fractionalization on participation in identity-instillinginstitutions actually grows stronger over time, emphasizing the idea that small di erences in initialconditions with respect to the cultural trait under consideration can have large long-term e ectson institutions and economic choices.

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Authors: Munshi, Kaivan; Wilson, Nicolas

Publisher: Duke University

Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Migration and Immigration, Other

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