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Does higher social diversity lower people's contributions to public goods? The case of volunteering in New Zealand

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  • Samuel Thornton
  • Jeremy Clark

Abstract

New Zealand society is becoming more heterogeneous. A growing body of international literature suggests that heterogeneity lowers people's contributions towards public goods and social capital. We use two iterations of New Zealand census data to estimate the effect of ethnic, religious, income and language heterogeneity on neighbourhood volunteering rates while controlling for other factors. We use cross-section and fixed-effects analysis under various specifications, measures of diversity, and level of neighbourhood. Our cross-sectional results find that most dimensions of heterogeneity are negatively related with volunteering, consistent with international findings. However, our fixed effects results are much weaker, and cannot fully address the endogeneity problems posed by people's self-selection into neighbourhoods.

Suggested Citation

  • Samuel Thornton & Jeremy Clark, 2010. "Does higher social diversity lower people's contributions to public goods? The case of volunteering in New Zealand," New Zealand Economic Papers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(1), pages 27-59.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:nzecpp:v:44:y:2010:i:1:p:27-59
    DOI: 10.1080/00779951003614065
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    Cited by:

    1. Jeremy Clark & Abel François & Olivier Gergaud, 2020. "Electoral Turnout and Social Capital," Working Papers in Economics 20/13, University of Canterbury, Department of Economics and Finance.
    2. Hayden Armstrong & Jeremy Clark, 2013. "Does higher social diversity affect people's contributions to local schools? Evidence from New Zealand," New Zealand Economic Papers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(2), pages 188-223, August.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    heterogeneity; volunteering;

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