Ethnic identity and internal migration decision in Indonesia

ABSTRACT

Due to differences in geographical situations and other ethnic-specific factors, different ethnic groups have developed different preferences towards migration as part of their socioeconomic norms. An ethnic group’s social norms provide a sense of identification and belonging to its members, and are hence likely to influence the decision-making of the individuals within the group. We hypothesise that the effects of these norms will be attenuated when one’s ethnic group is in the majority in their community. This case has been established in social psychology studies on the salience of social categories. Using the Indonesia Family Life Survey (IFLS) panel dataset combined with the 2000 and 2010 Indonesia population census data, this paper empirically investigates the role of ethnic identity in individuals’ internal migration decisions in Indonesia. The estimation exploits variation in whether an individual is living as a part of the ethnic majority or minority within their community, to explain the migration rates variation. The results demonstrate that while the individuals from more mobile ethnic groups tend to have a higher probability to migrate compared to those of less mobile ethnic groups, the effect is weakened when the individuals live as part of the majority ethnic group in the community.

KEYWORDS⁠:

• Ethnic identity
• social norms
• internal migration

Acknowledgements

The author thanks Shyamal Chowdhury and Russell Toth for their helpful comments in the earlier version of this paper. The author also thanks two anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments and suggestions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 There has been a growing body of literature and empirical studies on the role of culture in determining economic outcomes. Guiso, Sapienza, and Zingales (2006) provide a summary of different approaches and studies that examine the role of culture in economics. A more recent literature survey by Alesina and Giuliano (2015) summarizes the relationship of culture and institutions, while Epstein and Gang (2010) explore the link between culture and migration.

2 The seminal paper of Akerlof and Kranton (2000) point out that individual identity, based on social category, determines the increase or decrease of an individual’s utility depending on their level of conformity to the prescribed actions of a certain social category. The emergence of this concept is then followed by numerous studies on identity and economics.