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Identity and social exclusion: an experiment with Hispanic immigrants in the U.S.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2025

Natalia Candelo ,
Rachel T. A. Croson  and
Sherry Xin Li
Natalia Candelo*
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, Queens College CUNY, 65-30 Kissena Boulevard, 11367 Queens, NY, USA
Rachel T. A. Croson*
Affiliation:
College of Business, UT Arlington, 701 S West Street, 76019 Arlington, TX, USA
Sherry Xin Li*
Affiliation:
School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences, UT Dallas, 800 West Campbell Road, GR31, 75080 Richardson, TX, USA
*
ncandelolondono@qc.cuny.edu
croson@uta.edu
sherry.xin.li@utdallas.edu
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Abstract

In this study we conduct a lab-in-the-field experiment with low-income Hispanics in three neighborhoods in a large city in the U.S. to investigate how identity and social exclusion influences individual contributions to fund local public goods. We find that while the strength of identity has a significant and positive impact on individual contributions to local public goods, the perception of social exclusion significantly decreases contributions. Our findings thus suggest factors that may impede full civic participation, and shed important light on potential policies to increase integration of immigrants and ethnic minorities into mainstream society.

Keywords

IdentitySocial exclusionPublic goodsImmigration

JEL classification

C91: Laboratory, Individual Behavior H4: Publicly Provided Goods C93: Field Experiments
Type
Original Paper
Information
Experimental Economics , Volume 20 , Issue 2 , June 2017 , pp. 460 - 480
Copyright
Copyright © 2016 Economic Science Association

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Footnotes

Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/s10683-016-9492-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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