Ethnic Favoritism: An Axiom of Politics?

Giacomo Davide De Luca; Roland Hodler; Paul A. Raschky; Michele Valsecchi

doi:10.1016/j.jdeveco.2017.12.006

Ethnic Favoritism: An Axiom of Politics?

Giacomo Davide De Luca, Roland Hodler, Paul A. Raschky, Michele Valsecchi

Economics

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

We study ethnic favoritism in a global sample and rely on nighttime light intensity to capture a broad range of preferential policies targeted towards the political leaders’ ethnic homelands. We construct two panel data sets with several thousand ethnographic regions from around 140 multi-ethnic countries and annual observations from 1992 to 2013. We find robust evidence for ethnic favoritism: nighttime light becomes 7%–10% more intense in the political leaders’ ethnic homelands. We document that ethnic favoritism is a global phenomenon not restricted to Africa, poor countries, or autocracies. We also provide evidence that ethnic favoritism is partly motivated by electoral concerns and more prevalent in the presence of ethnic parties.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	115-129
Journal	Journal of Development Economics
Volume	132
Early online date	26 Dec 2017
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2017.12.006
Publication status	Published - May 2018

Keywords

Elections
Ethnic favoritism
Ethnic parties
Institutions
Political leaders

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10.1016/j.jdeveco.2017.12.006

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title = "Ethnic Favoritism: An Axiom of Politics?",

abstract = "We study ethnic favoritism in a global sample and rely on nighttime light intensity to capture a broad range of preferential policies targeted towards the political leaders{\textquoteright} ethnic homelands. We construct two panel data sets with several thousand ethnographic regions from around 140 multi-ethnic countries and annual observations from 1992 to 2013. We find robust evidence for ethnic favoritism: nighttime light becomes 7%–10% more intense in the political leaders{\textquoteright} ethnic homelands. We document that ethnic favoritism is a global phenomenon not restricted to Africa, poor countries, or autocracies. We also provide evidence that ethnic favoritism is partly motivated by electoral concerns and more prevalent in the presence of ethnic parties.",

keywords = "Elections, Ethnic favoritism, Ethnic parties, Institutions, Political leaders",

author = "{De Luca}, {Giacomo Davide} and Roland Hodler and Raschky, {Paul A.} and Michele Valsecchi",

year = "2018",

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volume = "132",

pages = "115--129",

journal = "Journal of Development Economics",

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T1 - Ethnic Favoritism

T2 - An Axiom of Politics?

AU - De Luca, Giacomo Davide

AU - Hodler, Roland

AU - Raschky, Paul A.

AU - Valsecchi, Michele

PY - 2018/5

Y1 - 2018/5

N2 - We study ethnic favoritism in a global sample and rely on nighttime light intensity to capture a broad range of preferential policies targeted towards the political leaders’ ethnic homelands. We construct two panel data sets with several thousand ethnographic regions from around 140 multi-ethnic countries and annual observations from 1992 to 2013. We find robust evidence for ethnic favoritism: nighttime light becomes 7%–10% more intense in the political leaders’ ethnic homelands. We document that ethnic favoritism is a global phenomenon not restricted to Africa, poor countries, or autocracies. We also provide evidence that ethnic favoritism is partly motivated by electoral concerns and more prevalent in the presence of ethnic parties.

AB - We study ethnic favoritism in a global sample and rely on nighttime light intensity to capture a broad range of preferential policies targeted towards the political leaders’ ethnic homelands. We construct two panel data sets with several thousand ethnographic regions from around 140 multi-ethnic countries and annual observations from 1992 to 2013. We find robust evidence for ethnic favoritism: nighttime light becomes 7%–10% more intense in the political leaders’ ethnic homelands. We document that ethnic favoritism is a global phenomenon not restricted to Africa, poor countries, or autocracies. We also provide evidence that ethnic favoritism is partly motivated by electoral concerns and more prevalent in the presence of ethnic parties.

KW - Elections

KW - Ethnic favoritism

KW - Ethnic parties

KW - Institutions

KW - Political leaders

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DO - 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2017.12.006

M3 - Article

SN - 0304-3878

VL - 132

SP - 115

EP - 129

JO - Journal of Development Economics

JF - Journal of Development Economics

ER -

Ethnic Favoritism: An Axiom of Politics?

Abstract

Keywords

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Giacomo Davide De Luca

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