Public spaces are increasingly becoming battlegrounds over collective identity, as societies revisit which figures deserve commemoration. The removal of statues and street names has become a powerful symbolic act, as for those attached to these legacies, such changes may be seen as denying their group identity. This paper examines the political consequences of such symbolic changes in the context of Spain, focusing on the recent renaming of streets honoring figures from the dictatorship. Using three complementary empirical strategies and drawing on both observational and survey evidence, I find that removing Francoist streets leads to a significant increase in support for far right parties in the affected areas, particularly when the names held high salience. I further implement a novel individual level survey and show that this response is driven by identity-based concerns rather than practical objections, shedding light on the political consequences of contested memory in democratic societies.

Presented at: Arne Ryde Workshop on Culture, Development and Institutions, 2025; Stockholm University, 2025: ASREC Europe, 2025; University of Navarre, 2025; CEEH–TUM Workshop, 2025; ASREC, 2025; PEED, 2025; George Mason University, 2024; EPCS, 2024;  Public University of Navarre, 2024; Lund University, 2024. 

Awards: Wicksell Prize to the best paper presented by a young scholar at EPCS 2024.

Language policies often aim to foster national cohesion by promoting a common tongue, yet it remains unclear whether language alone—absent broader institutional change—can reshape cultural identity. We study this question in Navarre, Spain, where a 1986 reform granted the Basque language three different legal statuses across adjoining zones, while keeping curricula, media, and other public institutions uniform. Using a difference-in-differences design across successive birth cohorts, we find that the reform increased Basque-language proficiency by up to 50 percentage points. However, its impact on identity is uneven and varies with the degree of segregation. Although learning Basque raises the likelihood of identifying as Basque, cohort-level identity strengthens only where school segregation is limited, but weakens where linguistic sorting is pronounced. Survey evidence on friendship networks supports a contact mechanism: Basque-track students report many Basque-speaking friends, whereas Spanish-track students typically report none. Such offline segregation of friendship networks also extends to online social networks, further entrenching identity divides.

Presented at: UPNA, 2025; Lund University, 2025.

This paper examines the causal effect of public discourse in one or both sides of the market on overall market socially responsible behavior. In a laboratory setting, we vary whether firms and/or consumers participate in a public discussion before trading begins. When both sides take part, the share of socially responsible trades increases slightly; however, when only one side participates, market social responsibility does not improve relative to a no-discourse control. These findings suggest that campaigns aiming to foster socially responsible conduct must engage all sides of the market to achieve meaningful impact. We also provide evidence that the effectiveness of public discourse will be limited when participants prioritize profits over norm adherence.

Presented at: University of Zurich, 2024; Lund University, 2024.