Identity and the Russian-Ukrainian War: Evidence from the American Community Survey

Publication Date

1-1-2025

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Journal of Economics Race and Policy

DOI

10.1007/s41996-025-00171-9

Abstract

The Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 led to significant changes in ethnic identity and language preferences among U.S. residents. We observe an 18.9% increase in U.S.-born individuals identifying as ethnic Ukrainian from 2021 to 2022 and a 6.8% decrease for U.S.-born ethnic Russians, which cannot be attributed to prior trends or sampling variation. The changes among Ukrainians were more pronounced among college graduates and those living in Democratic-leaning counties. We document an increase in the use of the Ukrainian language among Ukrainian immigrants, which cannot be explained by prior trends or immigration patterns. We test for labor market discrimination, which might be higher in areas where the political environment is more anti-Russian or pro-Ukrainian, but do not find evidence for employment or wage discrimination, suggesting identity changes are driven by non-market factors.

Keywords

Discrimination, Ethnicity, Identity, Immigration, Language, Voting, War

Department

Economics

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