Taxing Identity: Theory and Evidence From Early Islam

A ruler who does not identify with a social group, whether on religious, ethnic, cultural, or socioeconomic grounds, is confronted trade?off between taking advantage of the out?group population's eagerness to maintain its identity and inducing it “comply” (conversion, quitting, exodus, any other way accommodate ruler's own identity). This paper first nests economists' extraction model, in which rulers are revenue?maximizers, within more general identity?based care also about people lose their identity, both static an evolving environment. then constructs novel data sources test implications models context Egypt's conversion Islam 641 1170. The evidence supports model.