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The Dynamics of Ethnic Fragmentation

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  • Tade O. Okediji

Abstract

. This paper identifies problems associated with the current empirical measurement of ethnic diversity in economic development literature. An expanded index of ethnic diversity is proposed to include variables such as religion and race, and the results are compared to the prevailing index utilized in empirical literature. The mean of the proposed index is significantly larger and the standard deviation is significantly smaller than that of the prevailing index. This would suggest that disparities in ethnic diversity among countries are not as wide as previously assumed. Further, these results confirm that a comprehensive and more accurate measure of ethnic diversity requires more than a linguistic measurement, which is the primary factor utilized in the prevailing index.

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  • Tade O. Okediji, 2005. "The Dynamics of Ethnic Fragmentation," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 64(2), pages 637-662, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ajecsc:v:64:y:2005:i:2:p:637-662
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1536-7150.2005.00382.x
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    1. Ming-Chang Tsai & Leslie Laczko & Christian Bjørnskov, 2011. "Social Diversity, Institutions and Trust: A Cross-National Analysis," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 101(3), pages 305-322, May.
    2. Stéphanie Cassilde & Kelly Labart, 2019. "A Pluri-Ethno-Linguistic Fragmentation Index," Post-Print halshs-02909924, HAL.
    3. Akdede, Sacit Hadi, 2010. "Do more ethnically and religiously diverse countries have lower democratization?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 106(2), pages 101-104, February.
    4. Ma Salinas-Jiménez & Javier Salinas-Jiménez, 2011. "Corruption and total factor productivity: level or growth effects?," Portuguese Economic Journal, Springer;Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestao, vol. 10(2), pages 109-128, August.
    5. Kyle L. Marquardt & Yoshiko M. Herrera, 2015. "Ethnicity as a Variable: An Assessment of Measures and Data Sets of Ethnicity and Related Identities," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 96(3), pages 689-716, September.
    6. Sacit Hadi Akdede & Jinyoung Hwang & Emre Can, 2008. "Cultural Diversity, Domestic Political Violence And Public Expenditures," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(3), pages 235-247.
    7. Philipp Kolo, 2012. "Measuring a New Aspect of Ethnicity - The Appropriate Diversity Index," Ibero America Institute for Econ. Research (IAI) Discussion Papers 221, Ibero-America Institute for Economic Research.

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