Discrete Polarisation with an Application to the Determinants of Genocides

JoseG. Montalvo and Marta Reynal-Querol

Economic Journal, 2008, vol. 118, issue 533, 1835-1865

Abstract: Inequality and polarisation are two different measures of heterogeneity. As in the case of inequality, the measurement of polarisation was initially developed in the context of a continuous dimension (income). However, in many important dimensions, like ethnicity, there are no available measures of distance across ethnic groups and individuals are mostly separated by the dichotomous perception 'we versus they'. In this article we analyse the theoretical properties of a measure of polarisation based on classifications (discrete polarisation) instead of continuous distances across groups. The second part of the article presents an application of the index of discrete ethnic polarisation to the explanation of genocides. Copyright © The Author(s). Journal compilation © Royal Economic Society 2008.

Date: 2008
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