Diversity and Conflict

Cemal Eren Arbatli (), Quamrul Ashraf, Oded Galor and Marc Klemp

No 2019-10, Department of Economics Working Papers from Department of Economics, Williams College

Abstract: This research advances the hypothesis and establishes empirically that interpersonal population diversity, rather than fractionalization or polarization across ethnic groups, has been pivotal to the emergence, prevalence, recurrence, and severity of intrasocietal conflicts. Exploiting an exogenous source of variations in population diversity across nations and ethnic groups, as determined predominantly during the exodus of humans from Africa tens of thousands of years ago, the study demonstrates that population diversity, and its impact on the degree of diversity within ethnic groups, has contributed significantly to the risk and intensity of historical and contemporary civil conflicts. The findings arguably reflect the contribution of population diversity to the non-cohesivnesss of society, as reflected partly in the prevalence of mistrust, the divergence in preferences for public goods and redistributive policies, and the degree of fractionalization and polarization across ethnic, linguistic, and religious groups.

Keywords: Social conflict; population diversity; ethnic fractionalization; ethnic polarization; interpersonal trust; political preferences (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D74 N30 N40 O11 O43 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 109 pages
Date: 2019-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-evo, nep-gro and nep-his
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Forthcoming in Econometrica.

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Journal Article: Diversity and Conflict (2020)
Working Paper: Diversity and Conflict (2020)
Working Paper: Diversity and Conflict (2019)
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