scholarly journals Why Does Ethnic Diversity Undermine Public Goods Provision?

2007 ◽  
Vol 101 (4) ◽  
pp. 709-725 ◽  
Author(s):  
JAMES HABYARIMANA ◽  
MACARTAN HUMPHREYS ◽  
DANIEL N. POSNER ◽  
JEREMY M. WEINSTEIN
Keyword(s):  
Public Goods ◽  
Ethnic Diversity ◽  
Explanatory Power ◽  
Strategy Selection ◽  
Ethnic Communities ◽  
Public Goods Provision ◽  
Weak Evidence ◽  
Experimental Games ◽  
Selection Mechanisms ◽  
The Impact

A large and growing literature links high levels of ethnic diversity to low levels of public goods provision. Yet although the empirical connection between ethnic heterogeneity and the underprovision of public goods is widely accepted, there is little consensus on the specific mechanisms through which this relationship operates. We identify three families of mechanisms that link diversity to public goods provision—what we term “preferences,” “technology,” and “strategy selection” mechanisms—and run a series of experimental games that permit us to compare the explanatory power of distinct mechanisms within each of these three families. Results from games conducted with a random sample of 300 subjects from a slum neighborhood of Kampala, Uganda, suggest that successful public goods provision in homogenous ethnic communities can be attributed to a strategy selection mechanism: in similar settings, co-ethnics play cooperative equilibria, whereas non-co-ethnics do not. In addition, we find evidence for a technology mechanism: co-ethnics are more closely linked on social networks and thus plausibly better able to support cooperation through the threat of social sanction. We find no evidence for prominent preference mechanisms that emphasize the commonality of tastes within ethnic groups or a greater degree of altruism toward co-ethnics, and only weak evidence for technology mechanisms that focus on the impact of shared ethnicity on the productivity of teams.

The effect of regional income inequality and social diversity on the provision of local public goods in Indonesia

2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 111-126
Author(s):  
Matondang Elsa Siburian
Keyword(s):  
Public Goods ◽  
Ethnic Diversity ◽  
Equal Access ◽  
Local Public Goods ◽  
Policy Recommendation ◽  
Social Diversity ◽  
Public Goods Provision ◽  
Regional Income ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Regional Income Inequality

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to quantify the effects of regional income disparity and social diversity on local public goods delivery in Indonesia. Design/methodology/approach Using Indonesian provincial data over the period 2001–2014 and by way of System GMM, this paper circumvents endogeneity and persistence of key variables over time which may bias the estimated impact of the critical variables. Findings The result provides no significant evidence on the influence of regional income inequality on the provision of local public goods. The result reveals that ethnic diversity is associated with the more extensive provision of local public goods. A large difference in preferences toward public goods provision in a fragmented society such as Indonesia forces the local government to deliver a greater mixed of public goods to accommodate various preferences for public goods and ensure that each group has equal access to public goods. Political fragmentation within an ethnically heterogeneous society also encourages local politicians to provide a larger provision of public goods to form an inter-ethnic coalition to gain local political access. Practical implications The significant effect of ethnic diversity on public goods provision implies a set of policy recommendation for Indonesian Government in order to maintain peace within the country. The central government should establish a clear-cut standard of local public goods provision for local governments to ensure that that anyone has equal access to public goods regardless of ethnicity. This will mitigate the possibility of ethnic conflict in an ethnically plural society. Originality/value This paper extends its analysis using both fractionalization and polarization indexes to measure the social diversity in Indonesia to obtain a comprehensive knowledge regarding the influence of ethnic diversity on the public good provision. This paper proposes a set of policy recommendation for Indonesian Government to manage the effect of social diversity on the provision of local public goods. To the author’s knowledge, this has never been done before for Indonesia. Peer review The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-12-2018-0661

Trust, Ethnicity and Integrity in East Africa: Experimental Evidence from Kenya and Tanzania

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 88-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dominic Burbidge ◽  
Nic Cheeseman
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Diversity ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Common Knowledge ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Trust Games ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Experimental Games ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Impact ◽  
First Time

AbstractPolitical economy comparisons of Kenya and Tanzania have often found the political salience of ethnicity to be far higher in the former than the latter, with a negative impact on intercommunal trust. This difference has tended to be explained on the basis of the different kinds of leadership that the two countries experienced after independence. However, these findings have typically been demonstrated using aggregate or survey data. This paper assesses the salience of ethnicity at the individual level for the first time, deploying monetized two-round trust games in urban Kenya and Tanzania. The experimental games isolate the comparative impact of common knowledge of ethnicity and integrity among a quasi-random selection of 486 citizens. Verifying previous findings, we observe higher levels of trust and trustworthiness in Tanzania as compared with Kenya. Further, in comparison with Kenya, any shared knowledge of ethnic identities in Tanzania leads players to transfer fewer resources, while common knowledge that both players are “honest” led to higher transfers there than in Kenya. These results provide robust evidence of higher levels of trust in Tanzania, and of the negative effect in that country of common knowledge of ethnicity on levels of cooperation. The findings demonstrate the way in which political context can shape the impact of ethnic diversity, and encourage further experimental research that looks at the intersubjective dynamics of social cooperation.

Economic versus Cultural Differences: Forms of Ethnic Diversity and Public Goods Provision

2010 ◽  
Vol 104 (4) ◽  
pp. 644-662 ◽  
Author(s):  
KATE BALDWIN ◽  
JOHN D. HUBER
Keyword(s):  
Public Goods ◽  
Cultural Differences ◽  
Ethnic Diversity ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Ethnically Diverse ◽  
Public Goods Provision ◽  
Effective Governance ◽  
Empirical Tests ◽  
Group Inequality ◽  
Cross National

Arguments about how ethnic diversity affects governance typically posit that groups differ from each other in substantively important ways and that these differences make effective governance more difficult. But existing cross-national empirical tests typically use measures of ethnolinguistic fractionalization (ELF) that have no information about substantive differences between groups. This article examines two important ways that groups differ from each other—culturally and economically—and assesses how such differences affect public goods provision. Across 46 countries, the analysis compares existing measures of cultural differences with a new measure that captures economic differences between groups: between-group inequality (BGI). We show that ELF, cultural fractionalization (CF), and BGI measure different things, and that the choice between them has an important impact on our understanding of which countries are most ethnically diverse. Furthermore, empirical tests reveal that BGI has a large, robust, and negative relationship with public goods provision, whereas CF, ELF, and overall inequality do not.

How Elections are Impacted by Production, Economic Growth and Conflict

2016 ◽  
Vol 18 (01) ◽  
pp. 1550015
Author(s):  
Kjell Hausken ◽  
Mthuli Ncube
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Public Goods ◽  
Strategic Choices ◽  
Public Goods Provision ◽  
Election Result ◽  
Period 2 ◽  
Production Economic ◽  
The Impact

We analyze the pre- and post-election processes as a two-period game between an incumbent and a challenger. Before the election, in period 1, an incumbent allocates resources into production, fighting with the challenger, and providing public goods, which impact the probability of winning an election. After the election, in period 2 the incumbent may accept the election result, or a coalition or standoff may follow. Six outcomes are that the incumbent wins, the challenger wins, and that a standoff or coalition arises after one of the players wins. We analyze the incumbent’s and challenger’s strategic choices, how these choices depend on a variety of parameters, and the impact of the choices. The analysis is mapped to and tested against empirics of 48 African elections during 2009–2015 which are classified into the six outcomes. To test the model empirically, the correlations between three variables (the incumbent’s fighting and public goods provision and the challenger’s fighting, in period 1) and the six election outcomes are determined for 48 African elections.

scholarly journals Social sustainability and social (Dis)trust in outgroups: Evidence from Germany and Spain using the Factorial Survey

2021 ◽  
pp. 81-109
Author(s):  
Edurne Bartolomé ◽  
Hermann Dülmer ◽  
Lluís Coromina
Keyword(s):  
Social Identity Theory ◽  
Ethnic Diversity ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Factorial Survey ◽  
Threat Perceptions ◽  
Economic Threat ◽  
Weak Evidence ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
The Impact ◽  
First Time

In the short to medium term, ethnic diversity tends to reduce trust. This negative relationship can be explained by social identity theory and integrated threat theory. The latter theory distinguishes realistic (socio-economic) threat perceptions from symbolic (cultural) ones. Huntington believes that with the end of the Cold War, conflicts shifted from being primarily economic to cultural, mainly religious ones. The goal of this article is to disentangle for the first time the impact of different sources of perceived threat as well as of in-group/out-group–based differences on trust by using a factorial survey conducted in Bilbao (Spain) and Cologne (Germany). Our main findings are that although both towns differ in religious and socio-economic composition, their citizens possess a similar level of generalised trust and perceive socio-economic threat as being much stronger than cultural threat. Weak evidence is also found for in-group/out-group–based differences in particularised trust. Recibido: 03 February 2021Aceptado: 10 March 2021

Ethnic Diversity and Public Goods Provision

2016 ◽  
Vol 52 (5) ◽  
pp. 685-713 ◽  
Author(s):  
Soomi Lee ◽  
Dongwon Lee ◽  
Thomas E. Borcherding
Keyword(s):  
Public Goods ◽  
Ethnic Diversity ◽  
Public Goods Provision

Can relationship bring more provision in rural public goods? Empirical evidence from rural China

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuxin Wang ◽  
Qing Liu ◽  
Yanrui Wu ◽  
Huaqing Wu
Keyword(s):  
Public Goods ◽  
Rural China ◽  
Public Goods Provision ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Rural Public Goods ◽  
Neighborhood Relationship ◽  
Different Types ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Village ◽  
Positive Effect

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate how different types of the village relationship influence different types of public goods provision in rural China. Design/methodology/approach The three components (clan-based relationship, neighborhood relationship and external relationship) were derived by employing factor analysis. The simultaneous discrete choice model was used to estimate the influence of these components on public goods provision, using the survey data from the China Household Income Project conducted in 2007. Findings The findings indicate that considering different components of village relationship allows for a better understanding of the public good provision. The results indicate that the neighborhood relationship has a significantly positive effect on rural public goods provision, particularly on water conservancy and irrigation, while the external relationship has a significantly positive effect on all types of public goods. Practical implications Local public goods provision is the core of the new rural construction in China. These findings imply that relationship in villages plays a vital role in the provision of public goods and is necessary in the construction of the new harmonious countryside in China. The results also have implications for rural public goods provision in other developing countries. Originality/value To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to quantitatively model the impact of different relationships on public goods provision at the rural level. A consideration of the different components in village relationship allows for a more precise understanding of the pubic goods provision in the village.

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