Journal of Development Economics ( IF 4.277 ) Pub Date : 2021-06-05 , DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2021.102694 Robbert Rademakers , André van Hoorn
Ethnic divisions are prominent in many countries and associated with various societal ills, ranging from discrimination to violence and intra-state conflict. Commonly seen as exogenous, individuals' ethnicity is not necessarily fixed or unmalleable, however. We first use individual-level panel data for Indonesia, the U.S. and India, to document the prevalence of generic, undirected intra-individual ethnicity change. Second, we focus on potential correlates of ethnic switching and find that ethnic switching is predictable and follows logical patterns. By zooming in on individuals’ choices to switch to a specific ethnicity, we similarly find strong evidence that such directed ethnic switching occurs systematically and is guided by deliberate individual decision making. Third, considering potential implications of endogenous ethnicity, we find that ethnic switching can severely inflate official numbers on ethnic segregation, specifically on marital endogamy. We conclude that ethnic switching is real and highly relevant for the study of ethnic diversity and segregation.
中文翻译:
种族转换:关于衡量种族隔离的流行性、相关性和影响的纵向证据
种族分裂在许多国家都很突出,并且与各种社会弊病有关,从歧视到暴力和国家内部冲突。然而,通常被视为外生的,个人的种族不一定是固定的或不可塑性的。我们首先使用印度尼西亚、美国和印度的个人层面面板数据来记录普遍的、无定向的个人内部种族变化的普遍性。其次,我们关注种族转换的潜在关联,发现种族转换是可预测的,并且遵循逻辑模式。通过放大个人切换到特定种族的选择,我们同样发现强有力的证据表明,这种定向的种族切换是系统发生的,并且是由经过深思熟虑的个人决策引导的。第三,考虑到内生种族的潜在影响,我们发现种族转换会严重夸大官方关于种族隔离的数字,特别是在婚姻内婚方面。我们得出结论,种族转换是真实的,并且与种族多样性和种族隔离的研究高度相关。