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by George A. Akerlof (Author), Rachel E. Kranton (Author)
How identity influences the economic choices we make
Identity Economics provides an important and compelling new way to understand human behavior, revealing how our identities--and not just economic incentives--influence our decisions. In 1995, economist Rachel Kranton wrote future Nobel Prize-winner George Akerlof a letter insisting that his most recent paper was wrong. Identity, she argued, was the missing element that would help to explain why people--facing the same economic circumstances--would make different choices. This was the beginning of a fourteen-year collaboration--and of Identity Economics. The authors explain how our conception of who we are and who we want to be may shape our economic lives more than any other factor, affecting how hard we work, and how we learn, spend, and save. Identity economics is a new way to understand people's decisions--at work, at school, and at home. With it, we can better appreciate why incentives like stock options work or don't; why some schools succeed and others don't; why some cities and towns don't invest in their futures--and much, much more. Identity Economics bridges a critical gap in the social sciences. It brings identity and norms to economics. People's notions of what is proper, and what is forbidden, and for whom, are fundamental to how hard they work, and how they learn, spend, and save. Thus people's identity--their conception of who they are, and of who they choose to be--may be the most important factor affecting their economic lives. And the limits placed by society on people's identity can also be crucial determinants of their economic well-being.Back Jacket
"In the regular economic discourse of markets and taxes, we often forget about the forces that truly make a large difference in our lives. In Identity Economics we sit on an economic porch with Rachel Kranton and George Akerlof, observing what we care about most--our identity."--Dan Ariely, author of Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions
"In Identity Economics, George Akerlof and Rachel Kranton team up to bring people and their passions into economic analysis. Moving away from conventional accounts, they propose a bold paradigm to explain why and how identity and social norms shape economic decision making. With verve and insight, the book transforms standard economic understandings of organizations, schools, gender segregation, and racial discrimination. This new enlightened economics opens up a bright future for serious collaboration between economists and sociologists."--Viviana A. Zelizer, author of The Purchase of Intimacy
"This intriguing book shows how much can be learned when you add the tools of economics to the other intellectual resources now available for thinking about the power of identity. George Akerlof and Rachel Kranton report the results of technical modeling without immersing the reader in the technicalities. The result is an accessible work of commendable clarity."--Kwame Anthony Appiah, author of The Ethics of Identity
"Identity Economics blends elements of psychology with traditional economic analysis. The writing is clear, interesting, and light on jargon. The interplay between theoretical predictions and concrete examples is particularly successful. It brings fascinating developments at the frontier of economics within reach of a wide audience."--H. Peyton Young, University of Oxford
"Identity Economics is full of creative and interesting thoughts that will delight and intrigue those who read it. The writing is lucid and accessible with a minimum of standard economics jargon, making it possible for the book to have a wide readership across the social sciences."--Timothy Besley, London School of Economics and Political Science
Author Biography
George A. Akerlof, winner of the 2001 Nobel Prize in Economics, is the Koshland Professor of Economics at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the coauthor, with Robert Shiller, of Animal Spirits: How Human Psychology Drives the Economy, and Why It Matters for Global Capitalism (Princeton). Rachel E. Kranton is professor of economics at Duke University.
