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What’S In A Name?

Author

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  • SAKU AURA
  • GREGORY D. HESS

Abstract

This article analyzes two broad questions: Does your first name matter? And how did you get your first name anyway? Using data from the National Opinion Research Centers General Social Survey, we find evidence that, even after controlling for a myriad of exogenous background factors, first name features are predictors of many lifetime economic outcomes that are related to labor productivity such as education, happiness, and early fertility. However, we also find evidence, based on the differential impacts of gender and race on the “blackness” of a name, that identity could be an important channel for linking first name to lifetime economic outcomes. (JEL D1, J1, J7)

Suggested Citation

  • Saku Aura & Gregory D. Hess, 2010. "What’S In A Name?," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 48(1), pages 214-227, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ecinqu:v:48:y:2010:i:1:p:214-227
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1465-7295.2008.00171.x
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Oswald, Andrew J, 1997. "Happiness and Economic Performance," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 107(445), pages 1815-1831, November.
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    5. Arai, Mahmood & Skogman Thoursie, Peter, 2006. "Giving up Foreign Names: An Empirical Examination of Surname Change and Earnings," Research Papers in Economics 2006:13, Stockholm University, Department of Economics.
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    8. Roland G. Fryer & Steven D. Levitt, 2004. "The Causes and Consequences of Distinctively Black Names," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 119(3), pages 767-805.
    9. Bruno S. Frey, 2018. "Economics of Happiness," SpringerBriefs in Economics, Springer, number 978-3-319-75807-7, April.
    10. Richard Woodward, 2005. "Do Americans Desire Homogeneity? Evidence from Names from 1900-2000," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 4(9), pages 1-6.
    11. Levy, David M, 1997. "Adam Smith's Rational Choice Linguistics," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 35(3), pages 672-678, July.
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    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Agency & reciprocity in Corrie
      by chris dillow in Stumbling and Mumbling on 2013-01-03 20:24:45
    2. By George! Easy names give off more positive associations
      by Peter Koval, PhD Researcher in Psychology at University of Leuven in The Conversation on 2013-07-25 00:39:57
    3. Easily Pronounced Names May Make People More Likable
      by Dave Mosher in Wired Science on 2012-02-24 17:30:37

    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Stepan Jurajda & Dejan Kovac, 2016. "What's in a Name in a War," CERGE-EI Working Papers wp573, The Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education - Economics Institute, Prague.
    2. Štěpán Jurajda & Dejan Kovač, 2021. "Names and behavior in a war," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 34(1), pages 1-33, January.
    3. Franklin Mixon & Richard Cebula, 2012. "More is More: Some Economics of Distinctively-Named White Kids," Atlantic Economic Journal, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 40(1), pages 39-47, March.
    4. Costanza Biavaschi & Corrado Giulietti & Zahra Siddique, 2017. "The Economic Payoff of Name Americanization," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 35(4), pages 1089-1116.
    5. Štěpán Jurajda & Daniel Münich, 2015. "Candidate ballot information and election outcomes: the Czech case," Post-Soviet Affairs, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(5), pages 448-469, September.
    6. Solow, Benjamin L. & Solow, John L. & Walker, Todd B., 2011. "Moving on up: The Rooney rule and minority hiring in the NFL," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(3), pages 332-337, June.
    7. Antecol, Heather & Cobb-Clark, Deborah A., 2008. "Identity and racial harassment," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 66(3-4), pages 529-557, June.
    8. Alessandra Capezio & Astghik Mavisakalyan, 2016. "Women in the boardroom and fraud: Evidence from Australia," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 41(4), pages 719-734, November.
    9. Jurajda, Stepán & Münich, Daniel, 2010. "Admission to selective schools, alphabetically," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(6), pages 1100-1109, December.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D10 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - General
    • J10 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - General
    • J70 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination - - - General

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