“On every measure of academic achievement black students lag behind their white counterparts” (Austin-Smith and Fryer (2005)). This is a striking statistic: given the high correlation between income and education, understanding the cause of this achievement gap is key to designing effective public policy to promote social equality. David Austin-Smith and Roland Fryer (2005) use [...]
Women like to gamble too
Measuring the impact of identity on economic decisions is difficult. Benjamin, Choi and Strickland (2010), however, use a novel approach to get a wealth of data on the effect of ethnic, racial and gender identities on time and risk preferences. If test subjects are “primed” with an identity, their behavior temporarily changes to reflect the [...]
Martin H. Crego Lecture at Vassar College
On Feb 9th, George will deliver the annual Martin H. Crego Lecture at Vassar College (Blodgett Hall Auditorium at 5 p.m.). Each year, the Crego Lecture brings distinguished economists to Vassar College to address contemporary topics; recent participants include Douglas Bernheim, George Borjas, Samuel Bowles, Paul Romer, and J. Bradford DeLong. George will use this [...]
George Joins the International Monetary Fund
In October George joined the IMF research group to help with the design of a new system of financial regulation. After the financial crisis, countries world-wide recognized the need for a new, coordinated approach to financial regulation. Since the IMF is charged with overseeing the international monetary system and the financial and economic policies of [...]
Bloomberg Top 30 Books 2010
Bloomberg lists “Identity Economics” as one of the top business books of 2010.
James Pressley writes, “With so many business books being published each month, we’re often asked for recommendations….”
Cutting edge identity economics research at AEA
Each January economists descend on a major US city to find jobs, network with friends and coauthors, and learn about their colleagues most recent research. Denver is the lucky city to host the 2011 annual meetings of the American Economics Association. Here is a list of sessions and papers that examine the interaction between identity [...]
“Identity, Morals and Taboos” by Bénabou & Tirole
Identity and taboos have more in common then we might think. Roland Bénabou and Jean Tirole explain both in a model where individuals make “identity investments” that help them resist temptations and make consistent choices: “Individuals are at times uncertain about their own deep values and infer them from their past choices, which then come [...]
Why pay taxes?
The recent EU debt crisis left Germans crying foul, claiming that their law-abiding country was being forced to subsidize tax-dodgers in Greece. Whether or not this claim was justified (German banks were a major beneficiary of the bailouts), Sherry Xin Li “…finds that both ethnic and national identities play important roles shaping tax morale, and [...]
