"Identity Economics" provides an important and compelling new way to understand human behavior, revealing how our identities - and not just economic incentives - influence our decisions. In 1995, economist Rachel Kranton wrote future Nobel Prize-winner George Akerlof a letter insisting that his most recent paper was wrong. Identity, she argued, was the missing element that would help to explain why people - facing the same economic circumstances - would make different choices. This was the beginning of a fourteen-year collaboration - and of "Identity Economics". The authors explain how our conception of who we are and who we want to be may shape our economic lives more than any other factor, affecting how hard we work, and how we learn, spend, and save. Identity economics is a new way to understand people's decisions - at work, at school, and at home. With it, we can better appreciate why incentives like stock options work or don't; why some schools succeed and others don't; why some cities and towns don't invest in their futures - and much, much more. "Identity Economics" bridges a critical gap in the social sciences. It brings identity and norms to economics. People's notions of what is proper, and what is forbidden, and for whom, are fundamental to how hard they work, and how they learn, spend, and save. Thus people's identity - their conception of who they are, and of who they choose to be - may be the most important factor affecting their economic lives. And the limits placed by society on people's identity can also be crucial determinants of their economic well-being.

乔治·阿克洛夫（George A. Akerlof），加州大学伯克利分校 “科什兰”讲席经济学教授，2001年诺贝尔经济学奖得主。阿克洛夫得到承认是因为他的研究借鉴了社会学、心理学、人类学以及其他学科以确定经济学的影响和结果。专业领域包括宏观经济学、贫困问题、家庭问题、犯罪、歧视、货币政策和德国统一问题。

瑞秋·克兰顿（Rachel E. Kranton），杜克大学经济学教授。克莱顿致力于研究社会制度对经济的影响与结果。专业领域包括经济发展、国际经济学和工业组织。