Not so classy after all: Identity utility and the risk of discrimination of LGB people

The present study contributes to the literature on the economics of discrimination by considering some consequences of sexual orientation discrimination. Specifically, we analyse LGB people's decision to "come out" within an identity utility theoretical framework, and estimate the model on a representative sample of the EU population. We aim to investigate the factors that systematically affect a person's inclusion in competing definitions of LGB people and the potential role of sample selection biases, such as the one leading to the commonplace mistaken assumption of the affluence of gay men. Interval regression estimates of the risk attitude coefficient within the choice to come out suggest that heterogeneity in the objective dimensions of socio-economic welfare may explain a sample selection between "out" and "closeted" LGB people, which lies behind the "myth of gay affluence". JEL codes: J16, J15, D81