Ethnic Geography: Measurement and Evidence

Roland Hodler, , and Alberto Vesperoni ()
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Michele Valsecchi

No 12378, CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers

Abstract: The effects of ethnic geography, i.e., the distribution of ethnic groups across space, on economic, political and social outcomes are not well understood. We develop a novel index of ethnic segregation that takes both ethnic and spatial distances between individuals into account. Importantly, we can decompose this index into indices of spatial dispersion, generalized ethnic fractionalization, and the alignment of spatial and ethnic distances. We use maps of traditional ethnic homelands, historical population density data, and language trees to compute these four indices for more than 150 countries. We apply these indices to study the relation between historical ethnic geography and current economic, political and social outcomes. Among other things, we document that countries with higher historical alignment, i.e., countries where ethnically diverse individuals lived far apart, have higher-quality government, higher incomes and higher levels of trust.

Keywords: Ethnic diversity; Ethnic geography; Segregation; Fractionalization; Quality of government; Economic development; Trust (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C43 D63 O10 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-evo, nep-geo and nep-gro
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Ethnic geography: Measurement and evidence (2021)
Working Paper: Ethnic Geography: Measurement and Evidence (2019)
Working Paper: Ethnic Geography: Measurement and Evidence (2019)
Working Paper: Ethnic Geography: Measurement and Evidence (2017)
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