The Geography of Linguistic Diversity and the Provision of Public Goods

Klaus Desmet, Joseph Gomes and Ignacio Ortuño-Ortín

No 24694, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: This paper analyzes the importance of local interaction between individuals of different linguistic groups for the provision of public goods at the national level. The micro-founded conceptual framework we develop predicts that a country's public goods (i) decrease in its overall linguistic fractionalization, and (ii) either increase or decrease in its local learning multiplier, a measure of how local interaction affects antagonism towards other groups in the society at large. After constructing a 5 km by 5 km dataset on language use for 223 countries, we empirically explore these theoretical predictions. While overall fractionalization worsens public goods outcomes, we find a positive causal effect of local learning. Conditional on a country's overall diversity, public goods outcomes are maximized when there are a few large-sized groups and the diversity of each location mirrors that of the country as a whole. Our large-scale study, spanning the entire globe, confirms experimental micro-evidence in favor of contact theory.

JEL-codes: H4 O18 O57 R1 Z10 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cul, nep-exp, nep-gro and nep-ure
Note: PE POL
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Published as Klaus Desmet & Joseph Flavian Gomes & Ignacio Ortuño-Ortín, 2019. "The geography of linguistic diversity and the provision of public goods," Journal of Development Economics, .

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Related works:
Journal Article: The geography of linguistic diversity and the provision of public goods (2020)
Working Paper: The Geography of Linguistic Diversity and the Provision of Public Goods (2016)
Working Paper: The Geography of Linguistic Diversity and the Provision of Public Goods (2016)
Working Paper: The geography of linguistic diversity and the provision of public goods (2016)
Working Paper: The Geography of Linguistic Diversity and the Provision of Public Goods (2016)
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