The political economy of linguistic cleavages

Abstract

a b s t r a c t a r t i c l e i n f oThis paper uses a linguistic tree, describing the genealogical relationship between all 6912 world languages, to compute measures of diversity at different levels of linguistic aggregation. By doing so, we let the data inform us on which linguistic cleavages are most relevant for a range of political economy outcomes, rather than making ad hoc choices. We find that deep cleavages, originating thousands of years ago, lead to better predictors of civil conflict and redistribution. The opposite pattern emerges when it comes to the impact of linguistic diversity on growth and public goods provision, where finer distinctions between languages matter.

Are genetic traits associated with riots? The political legacy of prehistorically determined genetic diversity*

“…See also the notes to Table 1. (Desmet et al, 2012). Consistent with the main hypothesis, these variables enter the regression in a quadratic specification.…”

“…An early contribution by Easterly and Levine (1997) demonstrates that ethnic diversity impedes economic growth via hindering the provision of growth-enhancing public goods. Consistent with this finding, many studies document that ethnolinguistic fractionalization is associated with poor governance, higher corruption, reduced economic growth and distorted public spending (Alesina & Ferrara, 2005;Alesina et al, 1999Alesina et al, , 2003Grafton et al, 2002;Banerjee et al, 2005;Montalvo & Reynal-Querol, 2005a;Grafton et al, 2007;Desmet et al, 2012;Gören, 2014). The basic idea is that ethnolinguistically fragmented societies typically experience diverse preferences for public goods and redistribution.…”

Introducing the Historical Index of Ethnic Fractionalization (HIEF) Dataset: Accounting for Longitudinal Changes in Ethnic Diversity

“…There have also been efforts to overcome simple fractionalization measures by focusing on conjunctures with other heterogeneities such as the index of ethnic inequality [3] that puts forward the inter-section of ethnic diversity and economic inequality or an index that combines five cleavages, namely race, language, religion, region, and income [27]. Other indices make an effort to account for the distance between groups [16], the historical depth of ethnic cleavages [10] or consider heterogeneity between individuals rather than groups [4].…”

Is it Ethnic Fractionalization or Social Exclusion, Which Affects Social Cohesion?

“…Papyrakis and Mo (2014) find that both ethnic fractionalization and ethnic polarization affect growth through the corruption channel. Desmet et al (2012) find that ethno-linguistic fractionalization has a negative effect on public goods and growth, while polarization is largely unrelated to growth.…”