Political Identity: Experimental Evidence on Anti-Americanism in Pakistan

We identify Pakistani men's willingness to pay to preserve their anti-American identity using an experiment imposing clearly-specified financial costs on anti-American expression, with minimal consequential or social considerations. Around one-quarter of subjects forgo payments from the U.S. government worth around one-fifth of a day's wage to avoid an identity-threatening choice: anonymously checking a box indicating gratitude toward the U.S. government. When subjects anticipate that rejection will be observable, rejection falls, suggesting that pressure to conform outweighs the need to publicly signal one's identity. A second experiment correlates rejection of the U.S. payment with membership in Pakistan's major anti-American political party.