Fractionalization, polarization, and economic growth: identifying the transmission channels.
Papyrakis, Elissaios ; Mo, Pak Hung
Fractionalization, polarization, and economic growth: identifying the transmission channels.
In this article, we examine empirically both the direct and
indirect links between ethnic fragmentation and economic growth. We find
that both ethnic fractionalization and polarization are negatively
associated with growth if considered in isolation; an effect that is
though primarily attributed to their link to other growth-related
activities (i.e., investment, conflict, control of corruption,
fertility). We study the corresponding transmission channels and
calculate their relative importance in explaining a development curse
based on ethnic diversity. For both measures of ethnic fragmentation, we
find the corruption channel to be the most important one. (JEL C21, Oil,
Z13)
I. INTRODUCTION
It is a common assumption in the development economics literature
that ethnic fragmentation (fractionalization, polarization) tends to
frustrate economic growth. Several empirical and theoretical studies
have recently linked ethnic fragmentation to poor economic performance
and its determinants (e.g., see Alesina, Baqir, and Easterly 1999;
Alesina et al. 2003; Alesina and La Ferrara 2005; Baggio and Papyrakis
2010; Easterly and Levine 1997; Esteban and Ray 2011; Habyarimana et al.
2007; Hodler 2006; Montalvo and Reynal-Querol 2005a, 2005b). A common
argument in these studies is that ethnic fragmentation reduces
cooperative behavior in the society and raises transaction costs with
individual ethnic groups often favoring short-term opportunism over
long-term planning (Collier 2001).
In the literature, several indirect transmission channels have been
identified and investigated through which ethnic fragmentation leads to
lower economic growth. Ethnic fragmentation often leads to reduced
infrastructure investment
as a result of diverse preferences over the range of capital goods
to be delivered (see Alesina, Baqir, and Easterly 1999 in particular) as
well as a riskier environment for investors (often due to uncertainty
over property rights protection, see Busse and Hefeker 2007; Svensson
1998). Ethnically heterogeneous societies tend to suffer
disproportionately more from corruption as a result of ethnic
favoritism, with obvious repercussions for the efficient allocation of
talent and public revenues (see LaPorta et al. 1999; Mauro 1995;
Pellegrini and Gerlagh 2008). Another stream of the literature
emphasizes that ethnic fragmentation (primarily ethnic polarization)
leads to conflictual behavior among ethnic groups and consequent loss of
human life, which naturally obstructs the productive capacity of
affected economies (Esteban and Ray 1999; Montalvo and Reynal-Querol
2005b, 2010). Last, ethnically heterogeneous societies are often
characterized by higher fertility rates (with the latter often linked to
lower capital intensity and hence economic growth, see Becker and Tomes
1976; Brander and Dowrick 1994; Bloom et al. 2009; Lee, Mason, and
Miller 2001); (strategic) political competition at the group level
encourages pronatalism, where relative group size is associated with
political leverage and division of benefits (see Janus 2010, as well as
Anson and Meir 1996; Basu 1997; Camps and Engerman 2008).
In this article, we contribute to this strand of the literature by
jointly investigating the transmission mechanisms identified in the
literature through which ethnic heterogeneity may hamper economic growth
and quantifying their relative importance. To our knowledge, this is the
first empirical paper that attempts to quantify the relative
contribution of these indirect mechanisms to the overall negative
association between ethnic diversity and growth. Our analysis follows
the methodology set out by Mo (2000, 2001) and Papyrakis and Gerlagh
(2004, 2007) who explore the intermediate channels through which
inequality, corruption, and resource dependence link to growth. Through
cross-country growth regressions we investigate the empirical
relationships between ethnic diversity and investment, control of
corruption, conflict and fertility, and estimate the share of each
transmission channel in accounting for the overall negative association
between ethnic heterogeneity and growth. We find that, on average,
ethnic heterogeneity is negatively linked to these growth-promoting
variables, which explains the largest part of a "development
curse" based on ethnic diversity.
While many of the aforementioned studies linking ethnicity and
economic growth have relied exclusively on ethnic fractionalization as a
measure of ethnic fragmentation, many recent papers have placed more
emphasis on ethnic polarization as a potential cause of poor economic
performance. A number of prominent papers by Montalvo and Reynal-Querol
(2005a, 2005b, 2008) for instance claim that ethnic heterogeneity,
measured by polarization rather than fractionalization, can be a
stronger determinant of conflictual behavior in the economy. For this
reason, we make use of both ethnic fractionalization as well as
polarization indices to estimate the effects of ethnic heterogeneity on
socioeconomic performance.
It is also worth noting that some recent studies point to nonlinear
relationships between fragmentation and several economic development
outcomes. For example, Ashraf and Galor (2011) find a hump-shaped
relationship between their measure of genetic diversity (proxied by
migratory distance to Eastern Africa) and current income per capita
levels (that might suggest that moderate ethnic fragmentation can allow
for an expansion of an economy's production possibilities frontier
through diversity-driven knowledge accumulation). Cerqueti, Coppier, and
Piga (2012) also find an empirical inverse-U relationship between growth
and fractionalization (although for the very short run). They also
discuss a theoretical model, where corruption can be high for homogenous
and highly fragmented societies, but low for moderate levels of ethnic
diversity (i.e., moderate fragmentation can play a positive role in
controlling corruption by increasing the level of control across
different ethnic groups). Dincer (2008), finds that corruption is at its
highest level for moderate levels of fragmentation when he examines
panel data for U.S. states. Tangeras and Langerlof (2009) also present a
game theoretical model, where the risk of civil war is comparatively
high for intermediate levels of ethnic diversity (given the larger
amount of resources needed to be invested in conflict per group in the
presence of a large number of ethnic groups). (1)
The next section is devoted to the empirical analysis on ethnic
fractionalization/polarization and economic growth. We find that ethnic
fractionalization, in particular, is negatively associated with economic
growth, although the correlation substantially decreases in magnitude
once the intermediate transmission variables are accounted for. Section
III studies empirically these transmission channels and compares their
relative weight in the overall negative link between ethnic diversity
and economic growth. There are significant policy implications. In the
case of ethnic fractionalization, for instance, we find that the
negative association with investment and control of corruption explains
more than half of the total negative correlation between ethnic
heterogeneity and economic growth. Section IV provides some reflection
on the exogeneity of ethnic diversity measures (and hence moves from
discussing partial correlations toward discussing causal mechanisms).
Our analysis is, hence, in the spirit of King and Fevine (1993) who
focus on the links between economic growth and another growth factor
(i.e., financial development), examine the association of the latter
with other growth determinants (capital accumulation, efficiency), and
finally comment on the ability of financial depth to act as a predictor
of growth. Section V summarizes our main results and offers concluding
remarks.
II. ETHNIC FRAGMENTATION AND ECONOMIC GROWTH
To identify the links between growth and ethnic fragmentation
(fractionalization/polarization) we estimate cross-country growth
regressions in the tradition of Kormendi and Meguire (1985), Grier and
Tullock (1989), Barro (1991), Sachs and Warner (2001), and Akqomak and
ter Weel (2009). We include initial income per capita in our empirical
analysis to check for the conditional convergence hypothesis that
predicts higher growth in response to lower starting income per capita,
keeping the other explanatory variables constant. Thus, per capita
income growth from period [t.sub.0] = 1967 to [t.sub.T] = 2007, denoted
by [G.sup.i] = (1/T) In([Y.sup.i.sub.T]/[T.sup.i.sub.0]), depends on
initial per capita income [Y.sup.i.sub.0]), on a measure of ethnic
heterogeneity [E.sup.i]--i.e., ethnic fractionalization or ethnic
polarization--and a vector of other explanatory variables [Z.sup.i]:
(1) [G.sup.i] = [[alpha].sub.0] +
[[alpha].sub.1]ln([Y.sup.i.sub.0]) + [[alpha].sub.2][E.sup.i] +
[[alpha].sub.3][E.sup.i] + [[epsilon].sup.i],
where i corresponds to each country in the sample. The coefficients
[[alpha].sub.1], [[alpha].sub.2], and [[alpha].sub.3] measure the
expected change in G (i.e., in growth) if the corresponding explanatory
variable (i.e., In([Y.sub.0]), E, or Z) changes by one unit, assuming
that all other regressors remain constant (i.e., the so-called ceteris
paribus condition holds). For example, [[alpha].sub.2] measures the
expected differences in growth between a country that is ethnically
homogenous and one that is either highly fractionalized or polarized
(i.e., with either the ethnic fractionalization or polarization index
taking values close to 1), assuming that values for all other
explanatory variables are held constant. The coefficient do corresponds
to the constant term (i.e., the expected rate of growth if all
explanatory variables are equal to 0). The error term e is the
unobserved residual component of growth (i.e., the difference between
the observed growth values and the approximated values given by the
estimated a coefficients and the actual values of the corresponding
explanatory variables), which is assumed to be normally distributed with
zero mean and constant variance and independently distributed of the
other regressors in the model.
A. Data
Ethnic Heterogeneity (E). Much of the literature on ethnic
fragmentation uses fractionalization and polarization indices of the
following form: fractionalization = 1 -
[[summation].sup.N.sub.i=1][[pi].sup.2.sub.i] and polarization = 1 -
[[summation].sup.N.sub.i=1] [((0-5 -
[[pi].sub.i])/0.5).sup.2][[pi].sub.i];, respectively, where n, stands
for the proportion of the total population belonging to the i-th ethnic
group and N stands for the number of groups. The ethnic
fractionalization index captures the probability of two randomly chosen
individuals from the general population belonging to different ethnic
groups, while the polarization index places emphasis on the relative
size of these competing groups in the society. (2) For both indices, a
value of zero corresponds to a perfectly homogenous society. The
fractionalization index approaches unity as the number of different
ethnic groups in the economy increases, while the polarization index
takes the value of one in the case of a bipolar distribution of two
ethnic groups of equal size. In other words, the difference between the
fractionalization and polarization index is that the latter weighs the
probabilities of two individuals belonging to different ethnic groups by
the relative size of the groups (see Montalvo and Reynal-Querol 2005b).
Data on ethnic fractionalization and polarization are provided by
Montalvo and Reynal-Querol (2005a, 2005b). The ethnic
fractionalization/polarization indices are constructed using data (for a
large cross-section of countries in 1970, 1975, and 1980) from the World
Christian Encyclopedia, which combines information on race, skin color,
ethnolinguistic families/dialects, and culture (for more detailed
information, see the World Christian Encyclopedia 1982, pp.
107-15)--Montalvo and ReynalQuerol (2005a, 2005b, 2008) construct their
ethnic fragmentation indices from these data taking into account the
most important ethnic divisions (i.e., 71 ethnolinguistic families). The
indices by Montalvo and Reynal-Querol (2005a, 2005b) are some of the
most commonly used proxies of ethnic fragmentation in the economic
literature (e.g., see Bhavnani and Miodownik 2009; Krieger and
Meierrieks 2010; van der Ploeg and Poelhekke 2009) and largely correlate
with other indices that use slightly different levels of disaggregation
among ethnic groups (e.g., the ones by Alesina et al. 2003).
Other Growth Variables (Z). In growth specification (1), we include
a set of variables commonly used in the literature as economic growth
regressors. We always control for initial income per capita levels in
1967 to check for the conditional convergence hypothesis. Data on
purchasing power parity (PPP) adjusted income levels are provided by the
Penn World Tables (Heston, Summers, and Aten 2010) and have been
extensively used in the empirical growth literature (e.g., see Alesina
et al. 2003; Bjqrnskov 2012; Papyrakis and Gerlagh 2004). We further
include in our specification a number of other growth-related variables
that are found in the empirical literature to be both significantly
correlated to growth, as well as associated with ethnic fragmentation.
These include the share of (public and private) investment in GDP and
the fertility rate at the beginning of the period (data provided by
Heston, Summers, and Aten 2010 and World Bank 2010, respectively). The
investment variable, capturing changes in physical capital (production
plants, equipment, nonresidential construction), is one of the most
commonly used and robust variables in empirical growth analysis (Aisen
and Veiga 2013; Bjornskov 2012; Mankiw, Romer, and Weil 1992). The
fertility variable relies on data collected by the United Nations
Population Division based on input from civil registration systems and
census/survey estimates (see Bloom et al. 2009 and Klasen and Lamanna
2009 on the use of the variable in growth econometrics). Furthermore, we
incorporate into the analysis two additional variables that appear
prominently in the literature linking ethnicity with economic
growth--i.e., a proxy of conflict and a control of corruption index
(data provided by the World Bank 2010 and Kaufmann, Kraay, and Mastruzzi
2009, respectively). The conflict variable is proxied by the number of
deaths attributed to conflict as a share of total population based on
data collated by the Uppsala Conflict Data Program (one of the most
reliable data collection projects on organized violence; see Gates et
al. 2012 and Esteban, Mayoral, and Ray 2012 for recent empirical studies
that link the variable with economic growth and ethnicity). The control
of corruption index is based on data summarizing the views by a large
number of (enterprise, citizen, and expert survey) respondents regarding
the extent of bribery in the economy and the level of protection offered
by anti-corruption and accounting institutions (and is part of the
worldwide governance indicators (WGI) project funded by the World Bank).
The index is known to have one of the largest country coverages among
other similar corruption indices available (see Svensson 2005) and
several studies have linked it to economic growth and ethnic
fragmentation (e.g., see Aidt, Dutta, and Sena 2008 and Shen and
Williamson 2005). A matrix reporting all pairwise correlations between
the key variables in our analysis is presented in Table Al of the
Appendix. (3)
B. Growth Analysis
We now estimate growth Equation (1) using ordinary least squares,
gradually increasing the set of explanatory variables. As a starting
point we regress income growth only on initial income per capita in 1967
(In [Y.sub.67]). As a second step, we include the extent of ethnic
fractionalization as a regressor in our empirical specification. The
results are presented in columns (1) and (2) of Table 1 and indicate a
highly significant and negative relationship between economic growth and
ethnic fractionalization. The correlation between ethnic
fractionalization and economic growth points to a difference in annual
income growth of approximately 1.91% between an ethnically homogenous
country (such as Denmark) and a highly fractionalized nation (such as
Tanzania, index value close to 1).
We now turn to the possible transmission channels linking ethnic
fractionalization with economic growth. We expect that the largest part
of a negative correlation between ethnic fractionalization and economic
growth is likely to be attributed to a negative statistical relationship
observed between ethnic diversity and other growth-promoting factors
captured by the vector Z1 (rather than a direct impact on growth). In
other words, a negative statistical relationship between [E.sup.i] and
[Z.sup.i] is likely to account for the largest part of the negative
correlation between [E.sup.i] and [G.sup.i] in the second regression of
Table 1. When the vector [Z.sup.i] is sufficiently rich to capture most
of the indirect links between fractionalization and growth, we expect
that its inclusion in the empirical analysis would substantially
decrease the coefficient of fractionalization on growth. As our next
step, we thus extend the vector [Z.sup.i], by progressively adding
variables commonly used to explain growth, such as investment,
fertility, conflict, and control of corruption, and we correspondingly
examine the magnitude and significance of the fractionalization
coefficient [[alpha].sub.2] (Papyrakis and Gerlagh 2004, 2007 use a
similar argument in their empirical analysis on the direct and indirect
links of resource abundance).
In column (3) of Table 1, we include the share of investment
(public and private) in GDP as an additional regressor. The variable
refers to the beginning of the period in order to avoid endogeneity
problems. The coefficient of the investment variable accords with
intuition (e.g., see Adams 2009; Crafts 2009; Levine and Renelt 1992),
suggesting a significant positive link between capital accumulation and
economic growth. A 10% increase in the share of investment in GDP
corresponds to a higher rate of economic growth by 0.65%. We now also
observe a negative sign for the coefficient [[alpha].sub.1] (that is now
statistically significant), providing hence support to the conditional
convergence hypothesis. More importantly, we notice a substantial
reduction in the magnitude and statistical significance of the
fractionalization coefficient (suggesting that part of the negative
association between fractionalization and growth can be attributed to
the investment channel).
In column entry (4) we include the fertility rate in 1967 as an
additional explanatory variable, expecting that higher fertility rates
correspond to lower growth rates as a result of reduced capital
deepening (Becker and Tomes 1976; Bloom et al. 2009; Lee, Mason, and
Miller 2001; Madsen, Ang, and Banerjee 2010). In subsequent column entry
(5), we include our measure of conflict, proxied by the conflict-related
deaths per population in 1967. Next, we include the proxy for the
control of corruption, capturing "perceptions of the extent to
which public power is exercised for private gain." The index
corresponds to the control of corruption in 1996, the first year for
which data are available (Mo 2001 argues that endogeneity is less likely
to be an issue of concern for the corruption variable since institutions
tend to evolve slowly). (4) We expect conflict to be a significant
deterrent of economic growth (and control of corruption to be a strong
stimulant)--conflict obstructs the productive capacity of the economy
and destroys all types of productive capital (Esteban and Ray 1999;
Montalvo and ReynalQuerol 2005b, 2010; Olsson 2007), while corruption
leads to an inefficient allocation of talent and public revenues (see
Fisman and Svensson 2007; LaPorta et al. 1999; Mauro 1995; Pellegrini
and Gerlagh 2008). We indeed observe that fertility, conflict, and
control of corruption have the expected signs, as suggested by the
literature. The sequence of regressions in Table 1 suggests that the
gradual inclusion of these explanatory variables steadily reduces both
the magnitude and statistical significance of the coefficient of
fractionalization (while the opposite holds for the coefficient of
initial income, providing hence strong support for the conditional
convergence hypothesis). This is an important finding; in column (6) the
coefficient of fractionalization has been reduced approximately by a
factor of 3.5 and has become totally insignificant. This suggests that
the largest part of a development curse based on fractionalization is
likely to be explained by the indirect association between ethnic
diversity and other growth-related activities (i.e., investment,
fertility, conflict and control of corruption). Once one controls for
these indirect links (i.e., the transmission channels),
fractionalization is only weakly correlated with growth. (5)
It is of interest to explore whether there is a differentiated link
between different types of ethnic fragmentation (fractionalization vs.
polarization) and economic growth, given the recent increased interest
in ethnic polarization as a determinant of adverse economic outcomes
(Baggio and Papyrakis 2010; Esteban and Ray 2008; Montalvo and
Reynal-Querol 2005a, 2005b, 2008). For this reason, we reestimate all
regressions of Table 1, where we now include the extent of ethnic
polarization in all specifications in place of the ethnic
fractionalization measure. Data on ethnic polarization are provided by
Montalvo and Reynal-Querol (2005a, 2005b). (6) We find a much weaker
relationship between economic growth and ethnic polarization (column
(7)), although it is still of interest to explore whether the observed
correlation may be largely (and indirectly) attributed to any links of
polarization to the growth-related activities captured by the vector Z
(which is the focus of our next section). Interestingly enough, the
sequence of regressions in Table 2 reveals a similar pattern to the one
identified in our previous results. The gradual inclusion of explanatory
variables steadily reduces the magnitude of the coefficient of
polarization, suggesting hence that any (even weak) negative correlation
between polarization and economic growth is likely to be attributed to
the intermediate channels, i.e., the association between polarization
and other growth-related activities. As a matter of fact, in column
entries (10) and (11), the coefficient of polarization turns positive
(although still of low statistical significance). Although this may look
surprising at first sight, it simply suggests that polarization is not
harmful to growth per se, once one accounts for any indirect links
between the former and the growth-relevant variables of vector [Z.sup.i]
(i.e., investment, fertility, conflict, and control of corruption). (7)
The signs of all other growth-related variables (investment, fertility,
conflict, control of corruption as well as ln [Y.sub.67]) accord with
intuition.
III. TRANSMISSION CHANNELS
In this section, we turn our attention to the transmission channels
and estimate the links between ethnic fractionalization (and
polarization) and investment, fertility, conflict, and control of
corruption (and the indirect links, thereof, to economic growth). We
then calculate the relative importance of each of these channels in
accounting for the poor economic performance of ethnically
fractionalized (or polarized) countries.
Before proceeding with the empirical investigation, we discuss in
brief the variables that entered our growth regressions and their
plausibility to act as a transmission channel. The first transmission
channel we explore points to a negative link between ethnic
fragmentation and investment. Political economy theories and empirical
evidence suggest that ethnic heterogeneity often leads to reduced
infrastructure investment as a result of divergent preferences over the
range of capital goods to be delivered (Alesina, Baqir, and Easterly
1999; Miguel and Gugerty 2005). Governments in ethnically fragmented
societies often tend to favor the interests of particular ethnic groups;
given that there is a high risk of being overturned by an opposition
favoring alternative ethnic groups, governments often become
short-sighted devoting a larger share of their budget to immediate
consumption rather than investment (Azzimonti 2011). Another stream of
the literature posits that ethnic diversity often creates a riskier
environment for (both domestic and foreign) investors. Ethnic
fragmentation is often associated with political instability, incoherent
public policies, and uncertainty over property rights protection (Busse
and Hefeker 2007; Levine 2005; Svensson 1998).
As a second transmission channel we consider the role of ethnic
fragmentation in explaining observed cross-country variation in
fertility rates. The literature suggests that fertility rates are often
the outcome of a (strategic) political competition at the group level.
Such a strategic interaction among ethnic groups often encourages
pronatalism, since relative group size is associated with political
leverage and division of benefits (see Janus 2010, as well as Anson and
Meir 1996; Basu 1997; Camps and Engerman 2008). Ethnic group leaders
have hence an incentive to discourage fertility-reducing policies (e.g.,
family planning); every household with a high fertility rate in effect
contributes to a public good for the community (ethnic group) by
sustaining or increasing its relative size. It is no surprise that
during periods of ethnic tensions and heightened nationalism ethnic
groups and their leaders deliberately invest in fertility promotion
(Horowitz 2000).
The third transmission channel we consider focuses on the link
between ethnic heterogeneity and conflict. Several papers note that
ethnic fragmentation (both ethnic fractionalization and polarization,
but primarily the latter) leads to ethnic conflict and consequent loss
of human life (e.g., see Esteban and Ray 1999; Montalvo and
Reynal-Querol 2005b, 2010). Ethnic conflict among groups naturally
obstructs the productive capacity of affected economies (e.g., by
destroying productive capital, creating mistrust among different ethnic
groups and restricting trade to individuals of the same community).
Collier and Hoeffler (1998) claim that such conflictual behavior
intensifies once a large ethnic group identifies with the government,
while another one (of similar size) with the interests of a rebel group.
(8)
The last transmission channel we explore considers the relationship
between ethnic fragmentation and corruption. Ethnically heterogeneous
societies tend to suffer disproportionately more from corruption as a
result of ethnic favoritism (see LaPorta et al. 1999; Mauro 1995;
Pellegrini and Gerlagh 2008). Bureaucrats tend to favor members of their
own group with obvious repercussions for the efficient allocation of
talent and public revenues. The positive impact of ethnic favoritism on
corruption may be further amplified by the fact that ethnically
fragmented societies are characterized by an under-provision of public
goods (i.e., ethnic diversity tends to reduce collective action that is
often necessary for investment in public goods). As a result, dependency
on special bonds and ethnic ties becomes increasingly important in terms
of securing access to essential services (Pellegrini and Gerlagh 2008).
(9)
Now we turn to the data and estimate the statistical association of
each of these variables with ethnic fractionalization [E.sup.i] and
initial income ln([Y.sup.i.sub.0]):
(2) [Z.sup.i] = [[beta].sub.0] + [[beta].sub.1] ln([Y.sup.i.sub.0])
+ [[beta].sub.2][E.sup.i] + [[mu].sup.i],
where [E.sup.i], ln([Y.sup.i.sub.0]), [[beta].sub.0],
[[beta].sub.1], [[beta].sub.2], and [[mu].sup.i]) are specified for
investment, fertility, conflict, and control of corruption. The
coefficients [[beta].sub.1] and [[beta].sub.2] measure the expected
change in Z (i.e., in investment, fertility, conflict, and control of
corruption) if the corresponding explanatory variable (i.e., ln
([Y.sub.0]) or E) changes by one unit. The coefficient [[beta].sub.0]
corresponds to the constant term. The error term [mu] is the unobserved
residual component of each transmission variable Z (i.e., the difference
between the observed values of Z and the approximated values given by
the estimated [beta] coefficients and the actual values of initial
income and ethnic fractionalization), which is assumed to be normally
distributed with zero mean and constant variance and independently
distributed of the other regressors in the model. To avoid having
different sample sizes due to data availability, we confine the analysis
on the transmission channels to the 102 countries used in the last
regression of Table 1 (for which data are available for all variables).
(10) A negative statistical relationship between ethnic diversity and
the growth-promoting variables captured by the vector Z (in combination
with a corresponding positive statistical relationship between the
growth-promoting variables and subsequent economic growth, as found in
Tables 1 and 2) is likely to account for a large part of the negative
correlation between ethnic diversity and growth. Results of these
transmission channels (i.e., the statistical associations between ethnic
fractionalization and the growth-related variables captured by Z) are
presented in Table 3 and indicate that ethnic fractionalization relates
to lower investment and control of corruption and higher fertility and
conflict, as suggested by the literature. All coefficients of
fractionalization (apart from the conflict channel (11)) are significant
at the 1% level and their sign provides support to a development curse
based on ethnic diversity. The correlation between ethnic
fractionalization and investment (column (12)) points to a difference in
investment rates of approximately 10% between an ethnically homogenous
country (such as Denmark) and a highly fractionalized nation (such as
Tanzania, index value close to 1). Similarly, the estimated correlations
between ethnic fractionalization and the rest of the growth-related
variables, captured by the vector Z, suggest that in highly
fractionalized nations (compared to ethnically homogenous ones): (a) a
woman bears, on average, one additional child during her lifetime
(column (13)) and (b) corruption is significantly higher (column
(15))--the "control of corruption" index is lower by 0.8
units, which points to a correlation of substantial magnitude given that
the variable has a mean of 0.10 and a standard deviation of 1.12. These
partial correlations between ethnic fractionalization and the
growth-related variables captured by Z are derived after controlling for
the level of economic development (with higher levels of income per
capita pointing to increased investment, lower corruption, and lower
fertility rates).
Since ethnic fragmentation explains part of the variation in
investment and the other growth-related variables of vector Z, by
substitution of Equation (2) into (1) we can calculate the magnitude of
the overall (direct and indirect) statistical association between
fractionalization and growth:
(3) [G.sup.i] = ([[alpha].sub.0] + [[alpha].sub.3][[beta].sub.0]) +
([[alpha].sub.1] + [[alpha].sub.3][[beta].sub.1]) ln([Y.sup.i.sub.0])
+ ([[alpha].sub.2] + [[alpha].sub.e][[beta].sub.2])[E.sup.i] +
[[alpha].sub.3][[mu].sup.i] + [[epsilon].sup.i],
where [[alpha].sub.2][E.sup.i] and
[[alpha].sub.3][[beta].sub.2][E.sup.i] capture the direct and indirect
links between fractionalization and growth, respectively. In other
words, Equation (3) now only includes the component of the vector of
growth-related variables Z that is not associated with ethnic
fractionalization or initial income (i.e., the [mu] residuals). Table 4
presents the estimated values for all coefficients of Equation (3) (for
the case of ethnic fractionalization). The coefficient of
fractionalization now includes both direct and indirect links (and
points to a 2.04% difference in growth rates between an ethnically
homogenous economy and a fully fractionalized one).
Our next step is to quantify the relative importance of each
transmission channel in accounting for the overall negative link between
ethnic fractionalization and economic growth. The direct association is
given by [[alpha].sub.2], while [[alpha].sub.3][[beta].sub.2] captures
the channel-specific link for each of the intermediate transmissions
mechanisms considered (see Equation (3)). Results are presented in Table
5. We see that the largest part (close to three quarters) of a
fractionalization-based development curse can be attributed to the
indirect transmission channels (i.e., investment, fertility, conflict,
control of corruption). Control of corruption appears to be the most
important transmission mechanism, accounting for 30% of the overall
negative association between fractionalization and growth (which jointly
with the investment channel, the second most important one in terms of
relative contribution, explain more than 50% of the overall
correlation).
We turn our attention once more to ethnic polarization, in search
of differentiated links between different types of ethnic diversity and
growth-relevant variables and transmission channels. We reestimate
Equation (2) having ethnic polarization as our measure of ethnic
fragmentation in place of ethnic fractionalization; results are
presented in Table 6. Results accord with our earlier findings of Table
3; that is, ethnically polarized societies tend to suffer from reduced
investment, inadequate control of corruption, and higher fertility. (12)
The correlation between ethnic polarization and investment (column (17))
points to a difference in investment rates of approximately 7% between
an ethnically homogenous country (such as Denmark) and a highly
polarized nation (such as Jordan, index value close to 1). Similarly,
the estimated correlations between ethnic fractionalization and the rest
of the growth-related variables, captured by the vector Z, suggest that
in highly polarized nations (compared to ethnically homogenous ones):
(a) women bear, on average, a larger number of children during their
lifetime (a difference in the fertility rate close to 1.4; see column
(18)) and (b) corruption is significantly higher (column (20))--the
"control of corruption" index is lower by 0.7 units. (13)
These partial correlations between ethnic polarization and the
growth-related variables captured by Z are derived after controlling for
the level of economic development. Comparing Tables 3 and 6, one can
observe that a highly fractionalized nation is likely to experience
lower levels of investment and higher corruption rates compared to a
highly polarized nation, other things equal (while the opposite holds
for fertility rates).
We then substitute Equation (2) into (1) (where now ethnic
polarization is the independent variable) and calculate the magnitude of
the overall (direct and indirect) association between ethnic
polarization and growth. We reestimate hence Equation (3) for the case
of ethnic polarization; results are presented in Table 7. The
coefficient of polarization (that now captures both direct and indirect
links with growth) points to a 0.94% difference in growth rates between
an ethnically homogenous economy and a fully polarized one--the overall
correlation is half the magnitude of the corresponding one in the case
of fractionalization in Table 4.
Last, we quantify the relative importance of each transmission
channel in accounting for the overall negative association between
ethnic polarization and economic growth. Results are presented in Table
8. Consistent to what we observed earlier (Table 2), polarization is
likely to have a positive (albeit weak) direct link to growth, once we
control for the indirect associations with other growth-related
variables (i.e., the transmission channels); the size of the positive
direct link is approximately equal to 51% of the overall negative
correlation between polarization and growth. Control of corruption still
appears to be the dominant transmission mechanism, through which
polarization is linked to economic growth (the size of the correlation
is approximately equal to 64% of the overall negative correlation with
growth). Fertility is now the second most important channel, followed by
investment. When we exclude the direct link between polarization and
growth (i.e., [[alpha].sub.2]) and focus only on the indirect links
(i.e., [[alpha].sub.3][[beta].sub.2]), we can see that the corruption
and fertility channels account for 42% (0.60/1.42) and 37% (0.53/1.42)
of the indirect negative association between polarization and growth.
IV. SOME REFLECTION ON THE EXOGENEITY OF ETHNIC FRAGMENTATION
Cross-country empirical studies of growth typically capture partial
correlations between growth and other variables, often with ambiguity
about the direction of causality (and for that reason empirical results
often need to be interpreted with some caution). In the case of ethnic
fragmentation, it is more likely to be the case that ethnic diversity
mainly affects economic growth, rather than the other way round
(although to a certain extent causality can run both ways). Ethnic
fragmentation remains rather stable over time--at least for the majority
of the countries (see also Montalvo and Reynal-Querol 2005a, 2005b for a
discussion). In almost all empirical analyses, the indices of
fractionalization and polarization enter the regressions as time
invariant variables (it is customary in the economics literature to
treat ethnic diversity as a non-time-varying variable due to limited
data availability; e.g., see Arezki and Bruckner 2012; Montalvo and
Reynal-Querol 2005a, 2005b, 2010). This is also the reason why indices
of ethnic fragmentation have often been used as exogenous instruments in
regression analysis (e.g., for the level of corruption or political
stability; see Cole 2007, Mauro 1995, and Reynal-Querol 2005)--although,
as Brock and Durlauf (2001) correctly point out, the validity of any
time-invariant instrument depends on it being uncorrelated with other
omitted growth factors (captured by the residuals).
Ideally one would wish to investigate whether predetermined ethnic
fragmentation is strongly linked to subsequent economic growth (in the
vein of King and Levine 1993, who establish that predetermined financial
depth is a good predictor of subsequent growth). To the best of our
knowledge, the only dataset that provides time-varying data on ethnic
fractionalization (and, hence, allows for some form of similar
experimentation similar to the one used by King and Levine 1993) is the
one by Campos and Kuzeyev (2007) and Campos, Saleh, and Kuzeyev (2011).
The dataset, though, constructs an ethnic fractionalization index based
on census data only for 26 former Communist economies and for four
periods (1989, 1993, 1999, 2003). This provides an interesting natural
experiment, since the ethnic composition of the population is likely to
have changed over time in these former Communist economies, given that
with the collapse of Communism international labor mobility restrictions
(to and from the countries) were relaxed, while many members of their
Russian ethnic minorities migrated to Russia (Campos, Saleh, and Kuzeyev
2011). In Table 9, we see that even for this small sample of
ex-Communist economies, predetermined ethnic fractionalization (for the
four periods for which data are available; i.e., 1989, 1993, 1999, 2003)
is strongly linked with subsequent economic growth, control of
corruption and fertility rates (averaged over the three subsequent
years). While results are not comparable to the ones from the earlier
analysis (both because of the different sample, as well as the larger
volatility in growth and growth-related factors that is more commonly
observed in the shorter term), our findings provide some support to the
hypothesis that ethnic diversity acts as a predictor of subsequent
economic growth and other growth-related factors (fertility, control of
corruption), at least for the 26 former Communist economies for which
time series data on ethnic composition are available. For the same
variables, we also run several Granger-causality tests (using either one
or two lags for the respective dependent variable and ethnic
fractionalization)--the hypothesis that the coefficients of lagged
ethnic fractionalization are equal to zero (and hence that ethnic
fragmentation does not Granger-cause the dependent variable) is rejected
at the 1% level of significance in the case of economic growth,
fertility, and control of corruption (as dependent variables).
V. CONCLUSIONS
There has been an increasing interest in the links between ethnic
fractionalization (and polarization more recently) and economic growth
(and several of its intermediate determinants; e.g., investment,
conflict, control of corruption, fertility). The literature suggests
that ethnically fragmented societies suffer from conflict, high
fertility rates, and reduced investment and control of corruption (i.e.,
channels through which long-term growth becomes frustrated). In this
article, we contribute to this strand of the literature by jointly
investigating the transmission mechanisms identified in the literature
through which ethnic fragmentation hampers economic growth and
quantifying their relative importance. To our knowledge, this is the
first empirical attempt to quantify the relative contribution of each of
these mechanisms to the overall negative association between ethnic
fragmentation and growth. For both measures of ethnic fragmentation, we
find corruption to be the most important mechanism. Investment plays the
second most important role in explaining a development-curse based on
ethnic fractionalization (and fertility in the case of ethnic
polarization).
We find that both ethnic fractionalization and polarization are
negatively associated with growth if considered in isolation; an effect
that is though primarily attributed to their links with other
growth-related activities. The findings have significant policy
implications. Although ethnic fractionalization (and polarization to a
certain extent) may impact negatively on economic growth, this is by no
means an iron law. A better understanding of the indirect mechanisms is
essential for adopting policy measures that can prevent the negative
association between ethnic heterogeneity and economic growth.
Fractionalized economies that seriously tackle corruption (as well as
adopt measures that promote investment and lower fertility) are more
likely to remain unharmed by the "fractionalization curse." In
the case of ethnic polarization, the curse might even turn into a
blessing if the potential indirect damaging effects of fragmentation (on
other growth-related factors) are controlled.
We have various extensions in mind of our analysis. Further
analysis could focus on religious rather than ethnic fragmentation and
test whether the key results of our analysis hold for religious
fractionalization/polarization. Furthermore, we need to acknowledge that
the current polarization and fractionalization indices are still far
from perfect, as they focus exclusively on population structures,
ignoring hence the relative financial and military power of groups, or
potential long-term alliances among them. Developing fractionalization
and polarization indices with such qualitative attributes will certainly
improve the accuracy of our estimations.
ABBREVIATIONS
GDP: Gross Domestic Product
PPP: Purchasing Power Parity
WGI: Worldwide Governance Indicators
doi: 10.1111/ecin.12070
APPENDIX
TABLE A1
Correlation Matrix
[G.sub.1967- Ethnic
2007] Ln [Y.sub.67] Fractionalization
[G.sub.1967-2007] 1.000
Ln [Y.sub.67] 0.164 1.000
Ethnic -0.348 -0.441 1.000
fractionalization
Ethnic polarization -0.147 -0.111 0.574
Investment 0.434 0.624 -0.471
Fertility -0.433 -0.780 0.473
Conflict -0.042 -0.141 0.092
Control of 0.472 0.786 -0.508
corruption
Polarization Investment Fertility Conflict
[G.sub.1967-2007]
Ln [Y.sub.67]
Ethnic
fractionalization
Ethnic polarization 1.000
Investment -0.204 1.000
Fertility 0.269 -0.311 1.000
Conflict -0.073 0.101 0.032 1.000
Control of -0.241 0.355 -0.243 -0.055
corruption
Corruption
[G.sub.1967-2007]
Ln [Y.sub.67]
Ethnic
fractionalization
Ethnic polarization
Investment
Fertility
Conflict
Control of 1.000
corruption
TABLE A2
List of Variables Used in the Regressions
[G.sub.1967-2007] Average annual growth in real GDP per
person from 1967 to 2007, calculated as G =
(ln([Y.sub.2007] /[Y.sub.1967])/40) x 100%
(Penn World Tables, Heston, Summers, and
Aten 2010).
Ln [Y.sub.67] Log of real GDP per capita in 1967 at 2005
international prices (Penn World Tables,
Heston, Summers, and Aten 2010).
Investment Share of investment (private and public) in
GDP (for 1967) (Penn World Tables, Heston,
Summers, and Aten 2010).
Fertility Fertility rate in 1967 (the number of
children that would be born to a woman if
she were to live to the end of her
childbearing years and bear children in
accordance with current age-specific
fertility rates; World Bank 2010).
Control of corruption Control of corruption index in 1996,
measuring the extent of bribery and
protection given by anticorruption and
accounting institutions. Measure ranging
from -3 (most corrupt) to 3 (most
transparent) (Kaufmann, Kraay, and
Mastruzzi 2009).
Conflict Deaths attributed to conflict per
population (x 100) (1967) (World
Development Indicators, World Bank 2010).
Ethnic fractionalization Ethnic fractionalization index (0-1
continuous scale) (Montalvo and
Reynal-Querol 2005a, 2005b). Time-variant
data for the 26 former Communist economies
provided by Campos, Saleh, and Kuzeyev
(2011).
Ethnic polarization Ethnic polarization index (0-1 continuous
scale) (Montalvo and Reynal-Querol 2005a,
2005b). Time-variant data for the 26 former
Communist economies provided by Campos,
Saleh, and Kuzeyev (2011).
TABLE A3
Descriptive Statistics
Standard
Variable Mean Deviation Minimum Maximum
[G.sub.1967-2007] 1.74 1.68 -3.60 6.96
Ln [Y.sub.67] 8.11 1.01 6.11 9.98
Ethnic fractionalization 0.47 0.28 0.01 0.96
Ethnic polarization 0.52 0.24 0.02 0.98
Investment 0.19 0.12 0.02 0.49
Fertility 5.40 1.81 2.02 8.20
Conflict 0.005 0.03 0 0.24
Control of corruption 0.10 1.12 -1.70 2.20
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(1.) We experimented with the quadratic forms of our indices of
fractionalization and polarization in the empirical analysis that
follows--in all cases there was very weak support of a nonlinear
relationship.
(2.) There is a nonlinear relationship between these two indices of
social fragmentation, and an in-depth discussion on their construction
can be found in Montalvo and Reynal-Querol (2005a).
(3.) Table A2 lists all variable descriptions and data sources.
Descriptive statistics are presented in Table A3 (for the sample of 102
countries, for which data are available for all key variables).
(4.) Due to the high correlation of the index across years, we find
almost identical results once we include the average of the measure for
the 1996-2007 period instead.
(5.) The inclusion of additional regressors slightly decreases our
sample size from 111 (column (1)) to 102 observations (columns (5) and
(6)). Replicating Table 1 for the 102 countries for which data are
available for all variables provides very similar results.
(6.) Similar to Hodler (2006) and Montalvo and Reynal-Querol
(2005a), we avoid introducing the fractionalization and polarization
proxies jointly into the estimated specifications to avoid
multicollinearity.
(7.) There is some tentative evidence of such a positive
relationship at a more micro scale in the business and management
literature (e.g., see Richard 2000 and Richard, Murthi, and Ismail 2007
who discuss how such diversity can enhance creativity and innovation in
the workplace).
(8.) There is also evidence suggesting a positive link between
ethnic heterogeneity and (nonfatal) crime more broadly (the extent of
theft, rape, number of injuries, etc.). See Fafchamps and Moser (2003)
for a discussion.
(9.) For a broader discussion and empirical evidence on the links
between ethnic fragmentation and institutions, see Easterly, Ritzen, and
Woolcock (2006).
(10.) Running the same regressions for the largest possible sample
for each transmission channel yields almost identical results.
(11.) This does not come as a surprise as there is much empirical
evidence in the literature suggesting that the conflict transmission
channel is the weakest of all (e.g., see Fearon and Laitin 2003, Hegre
and Sambanis 2006, and Ostby 2008).
(12.) The conflict transmission channel again appears to be the
weakest one (and the coefficient does not suggest a conflict-enhancing
impact of ethnic polarization).
(13.) The correlation between conflict and ethnic fractionalization
is again of both low statistical significance as well as small
magnitude.
ELISSAIOS PAPYRAKIS and PAK HUNG MO *
* The authors thank the editor and an anonymous referee for their
many helpful comments on the paper.
Papyrakis: Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Economics,
School of International Development, University of East Anglia, Norwich
NR4 7TJ, UK; Institute for Environmental Studies, Vrije Universiteit
Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1087, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Phone
44-1603592338, Fax 44-1603451999, E-mail e.papyrakis@uea.ac.uk
Mo: Associate Professor in Economics, Department of Economics, Hong
Kong Baptist University, Kowloon, Hong Kong. Phone 852-34117546, Fax
852-34115580, E-mail phmo@hkbu.edu.hk
TABLE 1
Growth Regressions as in Equation (1) with
Fractionalization as an Independent Variable
Dependent Variable:
[G.sub.1967-2007] (1) (2) (3)
Constant -0.16 2.20 3.92
Ln [Y.sub.67] 0.24 0.05 -0.34 *
(0.15) (0.19) (0.21)
Ethnic fractionalization -1.91 *** -1.35 **
(0.62) (0.60)
Investment 6.50 ***
(1.72)
Fertility
Conflict
Control of conniption
[R.sup.2] adjusted .02 .10 .21
N 111 105 105
Dependent Variable:
[G.sub.1967-2007] (4) (5) (6)
Constant 12.33 13.26 13.73
Ln [Y.sub.67] -1.00 *** -1.12 *** -1.34 ***
(0.27) (0.26) (0.27)
Ethnic fractionalization -0.95 * -0.80 -0.55
(0.55) (0.54) (0.52)
Investment 5.28 *** 6.10 *** 5.05 ***
(1.62) (1.58) (1.34)
Fertility -0.56 *** -0.59 *** -0.34 **
(0.13) (0.13) (0.15)
Conflict -8.93 *** -8.66 ***
(2.77) (2.40)
Control of conniption 0.77 ***
(0.26)
[R.sup.2] adjusted .35 .37 .43
N 103 102 102
Note: Robust standard errors for coefficients in parentheses.
*, **, and *** correspond to a 10%, 5%, and 1% level of significance.
TABLE 2
Growth Regressions as in Equation (1) with
Polarization as an Independent Variable
Dependent Variable:
[G.sub.1967-2007] (7) (8) (9)
Constant 0.05 2.57 11.91
Ln [Y.sub.67] 0.26 -0.25 -1.01 ***
(0.19) (0.21) (0.29)
Ethnic polarization -0.85 -0.42 -0.42
(0.64) (0.61) (0.57)
Investment 7.26 *** 6.03 ***
(1.77) (1.62)
Fertility -0.61 ***
(0.13)
Conflict
Control of corruption
[R.sup.2] adjusted .03 .17 .33
N 105 105 103
Dependent Variable:
[G.sub.1967-2007] (10) (11)
Constant 12.97 13.64
Ln [Y.sub.67] -1.13 *** -1.38 ***
(0.26) (0.27)
Ethnic polarization 0.32 0.48
(0.57) (0.57)
Investment 6.77 *** 5.49 ***
(1.56) (1.30)
Fertility -0.64 *** -0.38 **
(0.13) (0.15)
Conflict -9 73 *** -9.10 ***
(3.05) (2.62)
Control of corruption 0.82 ***
(0.26)
[R.sup.2] adjusted .36 .42
N 102 102
Note: Robust standard errors for coefficients in parentheses.
*, **, and *** correspond to a 10%, 5%, and 1% level of significance.
TABLE 3
Links Between Fractionalization and Other Growth
Determinants (Transmission Channels--Equation (2))
Investment Fertility
(12) (13)
Constant -0.24 15.24
Ln [Y.sub.67] 0.06 *** -1.27 ***
(0.01) (0.12)
Ethnic fractionalization -0.10 *** 1.03 ***
(0.03) (0.40)
[R.sup.2] adjusted .43 .62
N 102 102
Conflict Control of
(14) Corruption (15)
Constant 0.03 -5.80
Ln [Y.sub.67] -0.003 0.77 ***
(0.004) (0.08)
Ethnic fractionalization 0.004 -0.80 ***
(0.007) (0.25)
[R.sup.2] adjusted .03 .64
N 102 102
Note: Robust standard errors for coefficients in parentheses.
*, **, and *** correspond to a 10%, 5%, and 1% level of significance.
TABLE 4
Growth Regression (Equation (3)) Taking
Account of the Indirect Links Between
Fractionalization and Other Growth
Determinants
Dependent Variable: [G.sub.1957-2007] (16)
Constant 2.53
Ln [Y.sub.67] 0.02
(0.14)
Ethnic fractionalization -2.04 ***
(0.51)
Investment ([[micro].sub.1]) 5.05 ***
(1.34)
Fertility ([[micro].sub.2]) -0.34 **
(0.15)
Conflict ([[micro].sub.3]) -8.66 ***
(2.40)
Control of corruption ([[micro].sub.4]) 0.77 ***
(0.26)
[R.sup.2] adjusted .43
N 102
Note: Robust standard errors for coefficients in parentheses.
*, **, and *** correspond to a 10%. 5%, and 1% level of significance.
TABLE 5
Relative Importance of Transmission Channels Through
Which Fractionalization Affects Growth
Transmission Channels [[alpha].sub.3] [[alpha].sub.2]
(Table 1) (Table 3)
Ethnic fractionalization
Investment 5.05 -0.10
Fertility -0.34 1.03
Conflict -8.66 0.004
Control of corruption 0.77 -0.80
Total
Transmission Channels Contribution to Relative
[[alpha].sub.2] + Contribution
[[alpha].sub.3]
[[beta].sub.2]
Ethnic fractionalization -0.55 27%
Investment -0.50 25%
Fertility -0.35 17%
Conflict -0.03 1%
Control of corruption -0.61 30%
Total -2.04 100%
TABLE 6
Links Between Polarization and Other Growth Determinants
(Transmission Channels--Eauation (2))
Control of
Investment Fertility Conflict Corruption
(17) (18) (19) (20)
Constant -0.34 15.72 0.04 -6.43
Ln [Y.sub.67] 0.07 *** -1.36 *** -0.004 0.85 ***
(0.01) (0.10) (0.005) (0.07)
Ethnic polarization -0.07 * 1.41 *** -0.01 -0.74 ***
(0.04) (0.45) (0.01) (0.24)
[R.sup.2] adjusted .40 .64 .02 .64
N 102 102 102 102
Note: Robust standard errors for coefficients in parentheses.
*, **, and *** correspond to a 10%, 5%, and 1% level of significance.
TABLE 7
Growth Regression (Equation (3)) Taking Account of the Indirect
Links Between Polarization and Other Growth Determinants
Dependent Variable:
[G.sub.1967-2007] (21)
Constant 0.22
Ln [Y.sub.67] 0.25 ** (0.12)
Ethnic polarization -0.94 * (0.55)
Investment ([[micro]1]) 5.49 *** (1.30)
Fertility ([[micro]2]) -0.38 ** (0.15)
Conflict ([[micro]3]) -9.10 *** (2.62)
Control of corruption ([[micro]4]) 0.82 *** (0.26)
[R.sub.2] adjusted .42
N 102
Note: Robust standard errors for coefficients in parentheses.
*, **, and *** correspond to a 10%, 5%, and 1% level of
significance.
TABLE 8
Relative Importance of Transmission Channels
Through Which Polarization Affects Growth
Transmission Channels [[alpha].sub.3] [[beta].sub.2]
(Table 2) (Table 6)
Ethnic polarization
Investment 5.49 -0.07
Fertility -0.38 1.41
Conflict -9.10 -0.01
Control of corruption 0.82 -0.74
Total
Transmission Channels Contribution to Relative
[[alpha].sub.2] + Contribution
[[alpha].sub.3]
[[beta].sub.2]
Ethnic polarization 0.48 -51%
Investment -0.38 41%
Fertility -0.53 56%
Conflict 0.09 -10%
Control of corruption -0.60 64%
Total -0.94 100%
TABLE 9
Links Between Initial Ethnic Fractionalization and Subsequent
Growth and Determinants (26 Former Communist Economies)
Growth Investment Fertility
(22) (23) (24)
Constant 17.95 23.35 1.11
Ethnic fractionalization (lagged) -40.31 ** -4.46 1.94 ***
(20.53) (18.07) (0.61)
[R.sup.2] adjusted (within) .11 .03 .15
N 78 78 78
Conflict Control of
(25) Corruption (26)
Constant -0.01 0.07
Ethnic fractionalization (lagged) 0.01 -1.34 **
(0.01) (0.66)
[R.sup.2] adjusted (within) .04 .08
N 78 75
Note: Standard errors are robust, clustered by country, and appear in
parentheses.
*, **, and *** correspond to a 10%, 5%, and 1% level of significance.
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