Economics and Identity

Abstract This paper introduces identity-a person’s sense of self-into economic analysis. Identity can account for many phenomena that current economics cannot well explain. It can comfortably resolve, for example, why some women oppose ‘women’s rights,’ as seen in microcosm when Betty Friedan was ostracized by fellow suburban housewives for writing The Feminine Mystique. Other problems such as ethnic and racial conflict, discrimination, intractable labor disputes, and separatist politics all invite an identity-based analysis.