Ethnic Diversity and Economic Performance

2005/08/01 by Alberto Alesina, Eliana La Ferrara · 2 citations
Social Sciences · Economics, Econometrics and Finance · Computer Science · #Culture, Economy, and Development Studies #Economic Policies and Impacts #Economic Growth and Development

paper · doi:10.1257/002205105774431243

openalex publication_date 2005/08/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/02

Abstract

We survey and assess the literature on the positive and negative effects of ethnic diversity on economic policies and outcomes. Our focus is on communities of different size and organizational structure, such as countries, cities in developed countries, and villages and groups in developing countries. We also consider the endogenous formation of political jurisdictions and highlight several open issues in need of further research, in particular the endogenous formation of ethnic identity and the measurement of ethnic diversity.

Citations

• Ethnic and Cultural Diversity by Country*
• Corruption and Growth
• Religion and Political Economy in an International Panel
• What to Preserve? An Application of Diversity Theory to Crane Conservation
• Business groups and social welfare in emerging markets: Existing evidence and unanswered questions
• The Economic Geography of Talent
• A Pure Theory of Local Expenditures
• Group Formation in Risk-Sharing Arrangements
• Social categorization and intergroup behaviour
• Racism and redistribution in the United States: A solution to the problem of American exceptionalism
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• The Political Salience of Cultural Difference: Why Chewas and Tumbukas Are Allies in Zambia and Adversaries in Malawi
• Regional Evolutions
• The Dimensions of Residential Segregation

Cited by

• Ethnic diversity and economic growth in China
• Development economics [wikipedia]