Identity and Cooperation in Multicultural Societies: An Experimental Investigation

TL;DR

This study investigates how priming different identity aspects influences cooperation between immigrant and native youth, revealing that emphasizing multicultural identity can enhance cooperation and reduce social divides.

Contribution

It provides experimental evidence on the impact of identity priming on cooperation between immigrants and natives, highlighting multicultural identity as a key factor.

Findings

Immigrants are 13% more cooperative than natives at baseline.

Priming multicultural identity increases natives' cooperation by 3 percentage points.

Enhanced cooperation reduces initial social gaps between groups.

Abstract

Immigration has shaped many nations, posing the challenge of integrating immigrants into society. While economists often focus on immigrants' economic outcomes compared to natives (such as education, labor market success, and health) social interactions between immigrants and natives are equally crucial. These interactions, from everyday exchanges to teamwork, often lack enforceable contracts and require cooperation to avoid conflicts and achieve efficient outcomes. However, socioeconomic, ethnic, and cultural differences can hinder cooperation. Thus, evaluating integration should also consider its impact on fostering cooperation across diverse groups. This paper studies how priming different identity dimensions affects cooperation between immigrant and native youth. Immigrant identity includes both ethnic ties to their country of origin and connections to the host country. We test whether cooperation improves by making salient a specific identity: Common identity (shared society), Multicultural identity (ethnic group within society), or Neutral identity. In a lab in the field experiment with over 390 adolescents, participants were randomly assigned to one of these priming conditions and played a Public Good Game. Results show that immigrants are 13 percent more cooperative than natives at baseline. Natives increase cooperation by about 3 percentage points when their multicultural identity is primed, closing the initial gap with immigrant peers.