Identity and Cooperation in Multicultural Societies: An Experimental Investigation

TL;DR

This study tackles how identity salience shapes cooperation between native and immigrant youth in multicultural classrooms. Using a lab-in-the-field randomized trial in Bologna, it compares Common Identity, Multicultural Identity, and Neutral priming while participants play a repeated Public Good Game with and without punishment. The main results show immigrants exhibit about $13\%$ higher baseline cooperation, and native cooperation rises by about $3$ percentage points under Multicultural priming, effectively closing the initial gap; punishment dynamics reveal enhanced native sanctions under multicultural salience. The findings imply that low-cost, scalable identity-framing that emphasizes multicultural belonging can improve cooperative norms in diverse settings, highlighting the mutual nature of integration and informing education policy on fostering social cohesion.

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.

Figures (8)

• Figure 1: Welcome screens displayed at the beginning of the session and during all transition phases between tasks, by treatment. (a) Common Identity: a screen emphasizing shared school belonging through the school's name and visual elements. (b) Multicultural Identity: a multilingual welcome screen showing the flags of the largest migrant communities in Bologna, highlighting local linguistic and cultural diversity. (c) Control: a neutral screen without identity-related content.
• Figure 2: Screenshot of the punishment stage. The table shows, for each group member and each round: Punti presi dal progetto comune (points taken from the common pool), Guadagni (earnings), and Punti sottratti (costo) (punishment points assigned, i.e. costly deductions). Rows are labeled "TU" (the participant) followed by the numbers assigned to the other group members. Participants are informed that, to preserve anonymity, player numbers are randomly reassigned and re-ordered in every round, so participants cannot track the same peer across rounds.
• Figure 3: Friendship elicitation task. Each student received a sheet depicting a table with five chairs. They were instructed to write their own ID number on the chair at the head of the table (“TU”) and then list up to five classmates—one per remaining chair (Sedia 1-..- Sedia 5)— whom they would most like to sit next to, ordered from closest to farthest. These entries are used to construct directed friendship links within each classroom.
• Figure 4: Contribution to the PGG by treatment and status
• Figure 5: Punishment by treatment and status