When Does Ethnic Diversity Lead to Violence? Evidence from the 2007 Elections in Kenya

Thomas Markussen and Kitavi Mbuvi
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Kitavi Mbuvi: Kenya Institute of Education

No 11-19, Discussion Papers from University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics

Abstract: Some people have a concern for a fair distribution of incomes while others do not. Does such a concern matter for majority voting on redistribution? Fairness preferences are relevant for redistribution outcomes only if fair-minded voters are pivotal. Pivotality, in turn, depends on the structure of income classes. We experimentally study voting on redistribution between two income classes and show that the effect of inequality aversion is asymmetric. Inequality aversion is more likely to matter if the “rich” are in majority. With a “poor” majority, we find that redistribution outcomes look as if all voters were exclusively motivated by self-interest.

Keywords: Conflict; ethnicity; poverty; unemployment; public services; Kenya (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D74 H4 J6 O55 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 25 pages
Date: 2011-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-afr, nep-dem, nep-dev, nep-evo and nep-pol
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:kud:kuiedp:1119

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