Ethnic Inequality

Alberto Alesina, Stelios Michalopoulos and Elias Papaioannou

No 18512, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: This study explores the consequences and origins of between-ethnicity economic inequality both across and within countries. First, combining satellite images of nighttime luminosity with the historical homelands of ethnolinguistic groups we construct measures of ethnic inequality for a large sample of countries and show that the latter is strongly inversely related to comparative development. Second, differences in geographic endowments across ethnic homelands explain a sizable portion of ethnic inequality contributing to its persistence over time. Third, exploiting across-district within-African countries variation using individual-level data on ethnic identification and well-being from the Afrobarometer Surveys we find that between ethnic-group inequality is systematically linked to regional under-development. In this sample we also explore the channels linking ethnic inequality to (under) development, finding that ethnic inequality maps to political inequality, heightened perceptions of discrimination and undersupply of public goods.

JEL-codes: D63 O10 O40 O43 R12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dem and nep-ltv
Note: DEV EFG POL
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (26)

Published as Alberto Alesina & Stelios Michalopoulos & Elias Papaioannou, 2016. "Ethnic Inequality," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 124(2), pages 000 - 000.

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Related works:
Journal Article: Ethnic Inequality (2016)
Working Paper: Ethnic Inequality (2016)
Working Paper: Ethnic Inequality (2013)
Working Paper: Ethnic Inequality (2012)
Working Paper: Ethnic Inequality (2012)
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