Social Identity and Preferences
Daniel J. Benjamin, James J. Choi, A. Joshua Strickland
American Economic Review · 2010 · Volume 100 · Issue 4
Abstract
Social identities prescribe behaviors for people. We identify the marginal behavioral effect of these norms on discount rates and risk aversion by measuring how laboratory subjects' choices change when an aspect of social identity is made salient. When we make ethnic identity salient to Asian-American subjects, they make more patient choices. When we make racial identity salient to black subjects, non-immigrant blacks (but not immigrant blacks) make more patient choices. Making gender identity salient has no effect on intertemporal or risk choices. (JEL D81, J15, J16, Z13 )
Keywords
Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty, Economics of Minorities and Races, Non-labor Discrimination, Economics of Gender, Economic Sociology, Economic Anthropology, Social and Economic Stratification
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