IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cgd/wpaper/453.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Ethnic Politics and Ebola Response in West Africa - Working Paper 453

Author

Listed:
  • Souleymane Soumahoro

Abstract

In this paper, I examine the effects of power sharing on vulnerability to adverse shocks in a multiethnic setting. Combining a unique dataset on the allocation of ministerial posts across ethnicities with the spatial distribution of Ebola, I provide evidence that ethnic representation mitigated the transmission of Ebola in Guinea and Sierra Leone. The findings suggest that one percentage point increase in proportional cabinet shares reduced Ebola transmission by five percent, as reflected in the total number of confirmed cases. I also provide suggestive evidence that this relationship goes beyond a simple correlation and operates through public resource capture and trust in political institutions.

Suggested Citation

  • Souleymane Soumahoro, 2017. "Ethnic Politics and Ebola Response in West Africa - Working Paper 453," Working Papers 453, Center for Global Development.
    • Handle: RePEc:cgd:wpaper:453
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cgdev.org/sites/default/files/ethnic-politics-and-ebola-response-west-africa.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Posner,Daniel N., 2005. "Institutions and Ethnic Politics in Africa," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521541794.
    2. Franck, Raphaël & Rainer, Ilia, 2012. "Does the Leader's Ethnicity Matter? Ethnic Favoritism, Education, and Health in Sub-Saharan Africa," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 106(2), pages 294-325, May.
    3. Linda Dynan, 2009. "The Contribution of Economists to Understanding Racial Health Disparities in the US," Atlantic Economic Journal, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 37(3), pages 213-223, September.
    4. Daniel N. Posner, 2004. "Measuring Ethnic Fractionalization in Africa," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 48(4), pages 849-863, October.
    5. Posner,Daniel N., 2005. "Institutions and Ethnic Politics in Africa," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521833981.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Bluhm, Richard & Thomsson, Kaj, 2020. "Holding on? Ethnic divisions, political institutions and the duration of economic declines," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    2. Gisselquist, Rachel M. & Leiderer, Stefan & Niño-Zarazúa, Miguel, 2016. "Ethnic Heterogeneity and Public Goods Provision in Zambia: Evidence of a Subnational “Diversity Dividend”," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 308-323.
    3. Rachel M. Gisselquist & Stefan Leiderer & Miguel Niño-Zarazúa, 2014. "Ethnic Heterogeneity and Public Goods Provision in Zambia: Further Evidence of a Subnational 'Diversity Dividend'," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2014-162, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    4. Strong, Christine & Yayi, Constant L., 2024. "Do central bankers' characteristics matter for Africa? Ethnic favoritism, fractionalization, and inflation," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    5. Wahman, Michael, 2015. "Nationalized Incumbents and Regional Challengers: Opposition- and Incumbent-Party Nationalization in Africa," GIGA Working Papers 270, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies.
    6. Thilo Bodenstein & Achim Kemmerling, 2017. "The European Union as a Collective Actor: Aid and Trade in African Public Opinion," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 35(4), pages 567-586, July.
    7. Laura Maravall & Jörg Baten & Johan Fourie, 2023. "Leader selection and why it matters: Education and the endogeneity of favouritism in 11 African countries," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(3), pages 1562-1604, August.
    8. Soumahoro, Souleymane, 2020. "Ethnic politics and Ebola response in West Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    9. Robin Burgess & Remi Jedwab & Edward Miguel & Ameet Morjaria & Gerard Padró i Miquel, 2015. "The Value of Democracy: Evidence from Road Building in Kenya," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(6), pages 1817-1851, June.
    10. De Luca, Giacomo & Hodler, Roland & Raschky, Paul A. & Valsecchi, Michele, 2018. "Ethnic favoritism: An axiom of politics?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 115-129.
    11. Franck, Raphaël & Rainer, Ilia, 2012. "Does the Leader's Ethnicity Matter? Ethnic Favoritism, Education, and Health in Sub-Saharan Africa," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 106(2), pages 294-325, May.
    12. Jérémy Laurent-Lucchetti & Dominic Rohner & Mathias Thoenig, 2024. "Ethnic Conflict and the Informational Dividend of Democracy," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 22(1), pages 73-116.
    13. Stelios Michalopoulos & Elias Papaioannou, 2020. "Historical Legacies and African Development," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 58(1), pages 53-128, March.
    14. Nicolette D. Manglos-Weber, 2017. "Religious Transformations and Generalized Trust in Sub-Saharan Africa," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 133(2), pages 579-599, September.
    15. Gustave Adolphe MESSANGA & Sonia NPIANE NGONGUEU, 2021. "Tribalization of politics in authoritarian regimes: Analysis of the link between political tribalism and right-wing authoritarianism in Cameroon," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 5(1), pages 15-24, January.
    16. Papaioannou, Elias & Michalopoulos, Stelios, 2010. "Divide and Rule or the Rule of the Divided? Evidence from Africa," CEPR Discussion Papers 8088, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    17. J. Paul Goode & David R. Stroup, 2015. "Everyday Nationalism: Constructivism for the Masses," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 96(3), pages 717-739, September.
    18. Francesco Amodio & Giorgio Chiovelli & Sebastian Hohmann, 2024. "The Employment Effects of Ethnic Politics," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 16(2), pages 456-491, April.
    19. Ilia Rainer & Francesco Trebbi, 2014. "New Tools for the Analysis of Political Power in Africa," NBER Chapters, in: African Successes, Volume I: Government and Institutions, pages 145-212, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    20. Bluhm, Richard & Hodler, Roland & Schaudt, Paul, 2021. "Local majorities: How administrative divisions shape comparative development," Economics Working Paper Series 2110, University of St. Gallen, School of Economics and Political Science.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Political Institutions; Ethnic Politics; Power Sharing; Africa; Ebola;
    All these keywords.

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:cgd:wpaper:453. 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: Publications Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cgdevus.html .

    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.