Individual vs. Social Motives in Identity Choice: Theory and Evidence from China

Abstract

This paper provides a framework to study how individual and social motives shape identity choice and applies it to the ethnic choice of children in ethnically mixed marriages. The model highlights the interaction of material benefits, identity costs, and social reputations. It is consistent with two motivating facts for ethnic choices in China, and also delivers a set of auxiliary predictions. The empirical tests on Chinese microdata find support for these predictions. In particular, social motives significantly crowd in changes in individual motives in some localities, and crowd out the same changes in other localities.