Oil and ethnic inequality in Nigeria

James Fenske and Igor Zurimendi

Journal of Economic Growth, 2017, vol. 22, issue 4, No 2, 397-420

Abstract: Abstract Although it is known that ethnic biases exist in Africa, less is known about how these respond to natural resource prices. Many ethnically fragmented African countries depend on a small number commodities for their export base. Oil prices experienced in early life predict differential adult outcomes across Nigerian ethnic groups. Our difference-in-difference approach compares members of southern ethnicities to other Nigerians from the same birth cohort. This North-South distinction mirrors several economic, political, and religious cleavages in the country. Greater prices in a southern individual’s birth year predict several relative outcomes, including reduced fertility, delayed marriage, higher probabilities of working and having a skilled occupation, greater schooling, lower height, and greater BMI. These microeconomic impacts are explained by macroeconomic responses to oil prices; relatively, urban incomes increase, food production declines, and maternal labor intensifies in the South.

Keywords: Commodity prices; Early life; Ethnicity; Nigeria (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I12 I15 O12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (22)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10887-017-9149-8 Abstract (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
Working Paper: Oil and ethnic inequality in Nigeria (2015)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:kap:jecgro:v:22:y:2017:i:4:d:10.1007_s10887-017-9149-8

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer. ... th/journal/10887/PS2

DOI: 10.1007/s10887-017-9149-8

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Economic Growth is currently edited by Oded Galor

More articles in Journal of Economic Growth from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().