American Economic Review Vol. 109 No. 11 2019

Unity in Diversity? How Intergroup Contact Can Foster Nation Building

Samuel Bazzi¹; Arya Gaduh²; Alexander D. Rothenberg³; Maisy Wong⁴

¹ Department of Economics, Boston University, 270 Bay State Road, Boston, MA 02215 (email: ) · ² Department of Economics, Sam M. Walton College of Business, University of Arkansas, Business Building 402, Fayetteville, AR 72701 (email: ) · ³ Syracuse University, 426 Eggers Hall, Syracuse, NY 13244 (email: ) · ⁴ Wharton Real Estate, University of Pennsylvania, 3620 Locust Walk, 1464 SHDH, Philadelphia, PA 19104 (email: )

Abstract

We use a population resettlement program in Indonesia to identify long-run effects of intergroup contact on national integration. In the 1980s, the government relocated two million ethnically diverse migrants into hundreds of new communities. We find greater integration in fractionalized communities with many small groups, as measured by national language use at home, intermarriage, and children’s name choices. However, in polarized communities with a few large groups, ethnic attachment increases and integration declines. Residential segregation dampens these effects. Social capital, public goods, and ethnic conflict follow similar patterns. Overall, our findings highlight the importance of localized contact in shaping identity.

DOI

10.1257/aer.20180174

Volume

109

Issue

11

Pages

3978-4025

Language

en

Sources

bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

Cite

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