American Economic Review Vol. 106 No. 5 2016
Identity Economics 2016: Where Do Social Distinctions and Norms Come From?
Abstract
Identity economics provides a framework to analyze economic outcomes by establishing people's identities--not just pecuniary incentives--as primary motivations for choice. The heart of the framework is social difference and norms. This paper engages the emerging economic research into sources of divisions and norms: individuals, families, schools, governments, and social movements. The task at hand is to further to develop the micro-foundations of identity, in order to build a socially framed understandings of human motivation that will yield more robust accounts of behavior and institutions and yet better predictions of the implications of policy.
- DOI
- 10.1257/aer.p20161038
- Volume
- 106
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 405-409
- Language
- en
- Sources
- bibtex:phds-export.bib crossref openalex