Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP5112
Authors: Klaus Desmet; Ignacio Ortúñez; Shlomo Weber
Abstract: This paper investigates the effect of ethnolinguistic conflict on redistribution. The analysis focuses on the conflict arising between ?peripheral? minority groups and a dominant ?centre?. We propose an index of linguistic conflict that (i) encompasses both diversity and polarization, and (ii) accounts for the distance between languages. Our results suggest that linguistic diversity is a better predictor of redistribution than linguistic polarization. We also find that incorporating linguistic distances improves the predictive power of our conclusions.
Keywords: linguistic diversity; polarization; redistribution
JEL Codes: D60; D74; H50; Z10
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Linguistic polarization (F52) | Redistribution (H23) |
| Linguistic distances (Y80) | Redistribution (H23) |
| Linguistic diversity (J15) | Linguistic polarization (F52) |
| Linguistic diversity (J15) | Redistribution (H23) |