Ethnic diversity and economic development with spatial segregation

Naveen Bharathi, Deepak Malghan and Andaleeb Rahman

Economics Letters, 2023, vol. 222, issue C

Abstract: We revisit the negative association between ethnic diversity and development to show how the diversity-development association is conditional on spatial segregation. We introduce a new census-scale micro-dataset from the Indian state of Karnataka (n = 36.5 million rural residents). Using the first-ever spatially explicit enumeration and coding of endogamous Indian caste groups (jatis), we develop a multi-group metric for measuring local spatial segregation. We find that diversity is a bane for development only when it is also accompanied by high levels of spatial segregation. Our results contribute to the emerging research on the implications of inter-group contact and spatial proximity for economic outcomes.

Keywords: Ethnic diversity; Residential segregation; Caste; India (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:222:y:2023:i:c:s0165176522004256

DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2022.110951

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