ETHNICITY AND CONFLICT: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY

Joan Esteban (), Laura Mayoral and Debraj Ray

UFAE and IAE Working Papers from Unitat de Fonaments de l'Anàlisi Econòmica (UAB) and Institut d'Anàlisi Econòmica (CSIC)

Abstract: This paper examines the impact of ethnic divisions on conflict. The analysis relies on a theoretical model of conflict (Esteban and Ray, 2010) in which equilibrium conflict is shown to be accurately described by a linear function of just three distributional indices of ethnic diversity: the Gini coefficient, the Hirschman-Herfindahl fractionalization index, and a measure of polarization. Based on a dataset constructed by James Fearon and data from Ethnologue on ethno-linguistic groups and the "linguistic distances" between them, we compute the three distribution indices. Our results show that ethnic polarization is a highly significant correlate of conflict. Fractionalization is also significant in some of the statistical exercises, but the Gini coefficient never is. In particular, inter-group distances computed from language and embodied in polarization measures turn out to be extremely important correlates of ethnic conflict.

Pages: 33
Date: 2010-07-16, Revised 2011-12-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ltv
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

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http://pareto.uab.es/wp/2010/84010-APPENDIX.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: Ethnicity And Conflict: An Empirical Study (2015)
Journal Article: Ethnicity and Conflict: An Empirical Study (2012)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aub:autbar:840.10

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