IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/pal/easeco/v37y2011i3p417-430.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Ethnic and Religious Diversity and Income Inequality

Author

Listed:
  • Oguzhan C Dincer

    (Department of Economics, Illinois State University, Campus Box 4200, Normal, IL 61790, USA. E-mails: odincer@ilstu.edu; hotard@gmail.com)

  • Michael J Hotard

    (Department of Economics, Illinois State University, Campus Box 4200, Normal, IL 61790, USA. E-mails: odincer@ilstu.edu; hotard@gmail.com)

Abstract

Using cross-country data, we explore the relationship between ethnic and religious diversity and income inequality. For 58 countries spanning a 10-year period, we find a positive relationship between ethnic and religious polarization and income inequality and an inverse U-shaped relationship between ethnic and religious fractionalization and income inequality. According to our estimations (i) going from an ethnic (religious) polarization index of 0, to an ethnic (religious) polarization index of 1 would increase the Gini coefficient by almost 6 (respectively, 3) percentage points; and (ii) the Gini coefficient would be maximized when the ethnic (religious) fractionalization index is equal to 0.44 (respectively, 0.34). Implications are considered.

Suggested Citation

  • Oguzhan C Dincer & Michael J Hotard, 2011. "Ethnic and Religious Diversity and Income Inequality," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 37(3), pages 417-430.
  • Handle: RePEc:pal:easeco:v:37:y:2011:i:3:p:417-430
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.palgrave-journals.com/eej/journal/v37/n3/pdf/eej201058a.pdf
    File Function: Link to full text PDF
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

    File URL: http://www.palgrave-journals.com/eej/journal/v37/n3/full/eej201058a.html
    File Function: Link to full text HTML
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Leeson, Peter T., 2005. "Endogenizing fractionalization," Journal of Institutional Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 1(1), pages 75-98, June.
    2. Albanesi, Stefania, 2007. "Inflation and inequality," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(4), pages 1088-1114, May.
    3. Alberto Alesina & Eliana La Ferrara, 2000. "Participation in Heterogeneous Communities," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 115(3), pages 847-904.
    4. Alberto Alesina & Dani Rodrik, 1994. "Distributive Politics and Economic Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 109(2), pages 465-490.
    5. Barro, Robert J & Lee, Jong-Wha, 2001. "International Data on Educational Attainment: Updates and Implications," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 53(3), pages 541-563, July.
    6. Alberto Alesina & Eliana La Ferrara, 2005. "Ethnic Diversity and Economic Performance," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 43(3), pages 762-800, September.
    7. repec:oup:qjecon:v:109:y:1994:i:2:p:465-90 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Angus Deaton, 2010. "Price Indexes, Inequality, and the Measurement of World Poverty," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(1), pages 5-34, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Kazeem B. Ajide & Olorunfemi Y. Alimi & Simplice A. Asongu, 2019. "Ethnic Diversity and Inequality in Sub-Saharan Africa: Do Institutions Reduce the Noise?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 145(3), pages 1033-1062, October.
    2. Bello K. Ajide, 2020. "Fragmentation and financial development in Sub-Saharan Africa Countries: the case of diversity debit versus diversity dividend theses," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 53(3), pages 379-428, August.
    3. Admasu Asfaw Maruta & Rajabrata Banerjee, 2024. "Socioeconomic inequalities and the role of sectoral foreign aid in developing countries," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 71(3), pages 457-491, July.
    4. Ackermann, Klaus & Awaworyi Churchill, Sefa & Smyth, Russell, 2024. "Estimating the relationship between ethnic inequality, conflict and voter turnout in Africa using geocoded data," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Klaus Desmet & Ignacio Ortuño-Ortín & Romain Wacziarg, 2009. "The political economy of ethnolinguistic cleavages," Working Papers 2009-17, Instituto Madrileño de Estudios Avanzados (IMDEA) Ciencias Sociales.
    2. Gerring, John & Thacker, Strom C. & Lu, Yuan & Huang, Wei, 2015. "Does Diversity Impair Human Development? A Multi-Level Test of the Diversity Debit Hypothesis," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 166-188.
    3. Casey, Gregory P. & Owen, Ann L., 2014. "Inequality and Fractionalization," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 32-50.
    4. Sundar Ponnusamy & Mohammad Abbas Hakeem, 2024. "Ethnic inequality and public health," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(1), pages 41-58, January.
    5. Kyriacou, Andreas P. & Velásquez, Francisco José López, 2015. "Inequality and culture in a cross-section of countries," Journal of Institutional Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 11(1), pages 141-166, March.
    6. Pleninger, Regina & Sturm, Jan-Egbert, 2020. "The effects of economic globalisation and ethnic fractionalisation on redistribution," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
    7. Kemeny, Thomas, 2010. "Does Foreign Direct Investment Drive Technological Upgrading?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(11), pages 1543-1554, November.
    8. Rougier, Eric, 2016. "“Fire in Cairo”: Authoritarian–Redistributive Social Contracts, Structural Change, and the Arab Spring," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 148-171.
    9. Roberta Dessì & Salvatore Piccolo, 2008. "Two is Company, N is a Crowd? Merchant Guilds and Social Capital," CSEF Working Papers 202, Centre for Studies in Economics and Finance (CSEF), University of Naples, Italy, revised 12 Jul 2009.
    10. Francesco Caselli & Wilbur John Coleman II, 2013. "On The Theory Of Ethnic Conflict," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 11, pages 161-192, January.
    11. Ricardo Fort, 2007. "Land inequality and economic growth: a dynamic panel data approach," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 37(2‐3), pages 159-165, September.
    12. Yann Algan & Camille Hémet & David D. Laitin, 2016. "The Social Effects of Ethnic Diversity at the Local Level: A Natural Experiment with Exogenous Residential Allocation," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 124(3), pages 696-733.
    13. Isaac Ehrlich & Jinyoung Kim, 2007. "The Evolution of Income and Fertility Inequalities over the Course of Economic Development: A Human Capital Perspective," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 1(1), pages 137-174.
    14. Yann Algan & Camille Hémet & David D. Laitin, 2016. "The Social Effects of Ethnic Diversity at the Local Level: A Natural Experiment with Exogenous Residential Allocation," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 124(3), pages 696-733.
    15. Paul A. Grout & Sebastien Mitraille & Silvia Sonderegger, 2008. "The Costs and Benefits of "Strangers": Why Mixed Communities Are Better," The Centre for Market and Public Organisation 08/191, The Centre for Market and Public Organisation, University of Bristol, UK.
    16. Alberto Alesina & Edward Glaeser & Bruce Sacerdote, 2001. "Why Doesn't The US Have a European-Style Welfare State?," Harvard Institute of Economic Research Working Papers 1933, Harvard - Institute of Economic Research.
    17. Nasfi Fkili Wahiba & Mahmoudi Dina, 2023. "Technological Change, Growth and Income Inequality," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 13(1), pages 121-131, January.
    18. Masahiro Shoji, 2018. "Religious Fractionalisation and Crimes in Disaster-Affected Communities: Survey Evidence from Bangladesh," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 54(10), pages 1891-1911, October.
    19. Petra Sauer & Martin Zagler, 2014. "(In)equality in Education and Economic Development," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 60(S2), pages 353-379, November.
    20. Quamrul Ashraf & Oded Galor, 2013. "The 'Out of Africa' Hypothesis, Human Genetic Diversity, and Comparative Economic Development," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(1), pages 1-46, February.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pal:easeco:v:37:y:2011:i:3:p:417-430. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.palgrave-journals.com/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.