Individuals typically differ in their identities—the behaviors they deem ideal for themselves and for the members of their network—and in their tolerance for behaviors that deviate from their ideals. This paper studies compromise—that is, departures from one’s ideal point, to be accepted by others. I show that an individual’s compromise in equilibrium is bounded by the difference between her tolerance level and the lowest tolerance level in society. Relatively intolerant individuals, who serve as “bridges,” are critical for reciprocated compromise. When individuals with extreme identities are systematically less tolerant, societies polarize. In contrast, intolerance among moderates encourages cohesion.

This paper develops a theory in which society-wide economic outcomes shape individual aspira-tions, which affect the investment incentives of individuals. Through its impact on investments, aspirations in turn affect ambient social outcomes. We explore this two-way link. A central feature is that aspirations that are moderately above an individual’s current standard of living tend to encourage investment, while still higher aspirations may lead to frustration and lower investment. When integrated with the feedback effect from investment, we are led to a the-ory in which aspirations and income evolve jointly, and the social determinants of preferences play an important role. We examine conditions under which growth is compatible with long-run equality in the distribution of income. More generally, we describe steady state income distri-butions, which are typically clustered around local poles. Finally, the theory has predictions for the growth rates along the cross-section of income. We use these predictions to calibrate the model so that it fits growth data by income percentile for 43 countries, and back out the implicit aspirations-formation process that underlies these observations.