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  3. American Economic Review
  4. June 2012
  5. Ethnicity and Conflict: An Empirical Study

American Economic Review

ISSN 0002-8282 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7981 (Online)

Ethnicity and Conflict: An Empirical Study

  • Joan Esteban
  • Laura Mayoral
  • Debraj Ray
American Economic Review
vol. 102, no. 4, June 2012
(pp. 1310–42)
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Abstract

We examine empirically the impact of ethnic divisions on conflict, by using a specification based on Esteban and Ray (2011). That theory links conflict intensity to three indices of ethnic distribution: polarization, fractionalization, and the Gini-Greenberg index. The empirical analysis verifies that these distributional measures are significant correlates of conflict. These effects persist as we introduce country-specific measures of group cohesion and of the importance of public goods, and combine them with the distributional measures exactly as described by the theory. (JEL D63, D74, J15, O15, O17)

Citation

Esteban, Joan, Laura Mayoral, and Debraj Ray. 2012. "Ethnicity and Conflict: An Empirical Study." American Economic Review, 102 (4): 1310–42. DOI: 10.1257/aer.102.4.1310

Additional Materials

JEL Classification

  • D63 Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
  • D74 Conflict; Conflict Resolution; Alliances
  • J15 Economics of Minorities, Races, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
  • O15 Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
  • O17 Formal and Informal Sectors; Shadow Economy; Institutional Arrangements