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Is tolerance good or bad for growth?

Author Info

  • Niclas Berggren

    ()

  • Mikael Elinder

    ()

Abstract

We investigate how tolerance, as measured by attitudes toward different types of neighbors, affects economic growth in a sample of 54 countries. Unlike previous studies, by Richard Florida and others, we find that tolerance toward homosexuals is negatively related to growth. For tolerance toward people of a different race, we do not find robust results, but the sign of the estimated coefficients is positive, suggesting that inclusion of people irrespective of race makes good use of productive capacity. We propose mechanisms to explain these divergent findings, which clarify why different kinds of tolerance may be of different economic importance. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2012

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File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s11127-010-9702-x
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Article provided by Springer in its journal Public Choice.

Volume (Year): 150 (2012)
Issue (Month): 1 (January)
Pages: 283-308

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Handle: RePEc:kap:pubcho:v:150:y:2012:i:1:p:283-308
Contact details of provider: Web page: http://www.springerlink.com/link.asp?id=100332

Keywords: Tolerance; Growth; Diversity; Human capital; Creativity; Innovation; O40; Z13;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
  • O40 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - General
  • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Social and Economic Stratification

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Cited by:

  1. Niclas Berggren & Therese Nilsson, 2013. "Does Economic Freedom Foster Tolerance?," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 66(2), pages 177-207, 05.
  2. Berggren, Niclas & Nilsson, Therese, 2014. "Globalization and the Transmission of Social Values: The Case of Tolerance," Working Paper Series 1007, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
  3. Bomhoff, Eduard & Lee, Grace HY, 2012. "Tolerance and economic growth revisited: A note," MPRA Paper 52557, University Library of Munich, Germany.
  4. Berggren, Niclas & Nilsson, Therese, 2015. "Tolerance in the United States: Does Economic Freedom Transform Racial, Religious, Political and Sexual Attitudes?," Working Paper Series 1080, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
  5. Christian Bjørnskov & Pierre-Guillaume Méon, 2010. "The productivity of trust," Working Papers CEB 10-042, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
  6. Niclas Berggren & Mikael Elinder, 2012. "Tolerance and growth: modeling the empirical relationship," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 153(3), pages 495-502, December.

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