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Incentives to Identify: Racial Identity in the Age of Affirmative Action

Author

Listed:
  • Francisca Antman

    (University of Colorado Boulder and IZA)

  • Brian Duncan

    (University of Colorado Denver)

Abstract

We link data on racial self-identification with changes in statelevel affirmative action policies to ask whether racial self-identification responds to economic incentives. We find that after a state bans affirmative action, multiracial individuals who face an incentive to identify under affirmative action are about 30% less likely to identify with their minority group. In contrast, multiracial individuals who face a disincentive to identify under affirmative action are roughly 20% more likely to identify with their minority group once affirmative action policies are banned.

Suggested Citation

  • Francisca Antman & Brian Duncan, 2015. "Incentives to Identify: Racial Identity in the Age of Affirmative Action," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 97(3), pages 710-713, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:tpr:restat:v:97:y:2015:i:2:p:710-713
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    Cited by:

    1. Peter McHenry & Melissa McInerney, 2015. "Estimating Hispanic-White Wage Gaps Among Women: The Importance of Controlling for Cost of Living," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 36(3), pages 249-273, September.
    2. Hill, Andrew J., 2017. "State affirmative action bans and STEM degree completions," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 31-40.
    3. Francisca M. Antman & Brian Duncan, 2024. "Ethnic Identity and Anti-Immigrant Sentiment: Evidence from Proposition 187," NBER Chapters, in: Race, Ethnicity, and Economic Statistics for the 21st Century, pages 383-403, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Jones, Maggie, 2016. "Student Aid and the Distribution of Educational Attainment," Queen's Economics Department Working Papers 274699, Queen's University - Department of Economics.
    5. Alberto Dávila & Marie T. Mora, 2016. "LEP Language Disability, Immigration Reform, and English-Language Acquisition," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 106(5), pages 478-483, May.
    6. Casey F. Breen, 2023. "Late-Life Changes in Ethnoracial Self-identification: Evidence from Social Security Administrative Data," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 42(1), pages 1-18, February.
    7. Atheendar S. Venkataramani & Charles F. Manski & John Mullahy, 2025. "Prediction with Differential Covariate Classification: Illustrated by Covariate Classification in Medical Risk Assessment," Papers 2501.02318, arXiv.org, revised Dec 2025.
    8. Francisca M. Antman & Brian Duncan & Stephen J. Trejo, 2020. "Ethnic attrition, assimilation, and the measured health outcomes of Mexican Americans," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 33(4), pages 1499-1522, October.
    9. Francisca M Antman & Brian Duncan, 2023. "American Indian Casinos and Native American Self-Identification," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 21(6), pages 2547-2585.
    10. Arnaud Wolff, 2022. "The Signaling Value of Social Identity," Working Papers of BETA 2022-15, Bureau d'Economie Théorique et Appliquée, UDS, Strasbourg.
    11. Andrew Francis-Tan & Zheng Mu, 2019. "Racial Revolution: Understanding the Resurgence of Ethnic Minority Identity in Modern China," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 38(5), pages 733-769, October.
    12. Peter Hinrichs, 2020. "Affirmative Action and Racial Segregation," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 63(2), pages 239-267.
    13. Hinrichs, Peter, 2014. "Affirmative action bans and college graduation rates," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 43-52.
    14. Rademakers, Robbert & van Hoorn, Andre, 2020. "Choosing Your Ethnicity: A Longitudinal Analysis of Ethnic Identity Choice and Intra-Individual Ethnicity Change," MPRA Paper 99184, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    More about this item

    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification

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