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Title: Incentives to Identify: Ethnic and Racial Identification in the Age of Affirmative Action

Citation Type: Conference Paper

Publication Year: 2013

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Abstract: Almost universally, self-reported ethnicity and race are treated as exogenously given traits that are not subject to change. But in cases where ethnicity and race are subjective, does self-identification respond to economic incentives? This paper provides a first examination of this question by linking data on ethnic and racial self-identification with changes in state-level affirmative action policies in higher education, contracting, and employment. Consistent with a diminished incentive to identify as an ethnic and racial minority, we find evidence that individuals from underrepresented groups are less likely to identify once affirmative action policies have been banned. To our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate whether ethnic and racial self-identification responds to local economic and social conditions in the United States. As such, it has broad implications for understanding the impact of affirmative action policies and the emerging literature on the construction of race and ethnicity.

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Authors: Duncan, Brian; Antman, Francisca

Conference Name: IZA/SOLE Transatlantic Meeting of Labor Economists

Publisher Location: Buch/Ammersee, Germany

Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Race and Ethnicity

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