American Economic Review
ISSN 0002-8282 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7981 (Online)
Unity in Diversity? How Intergroup Contact Can Foster Nation Building
American Economic Review
vol. 109,
no. 11, November 2019
(pp. 3978–4025)
(Complimentary)
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.Citation
Bazzi, Samuel, Arya Gaduh, Alexander D. Rothenberg, and Maisy Wong. 2019. "Unity in Diversity? How Intergroup Contact Can Foster Nation Building." American Economic Review, 109 (11): 3978–4025. DOI: 10.1257/aer.20180174Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- D63 Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
- J12 Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure; Domestic Abuse
- J15 Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
- J18 Demographic Economics: Public Policy
- O15 Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
- R23 Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics: Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population; Neighborhood Characteristics
- Z13 Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification