The political economy of linguistic cleavages

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Desmet, Klaus; Ortuno-Ortin, Ignacio; Wacziarg, Romain
• 署名单位: Universidad Carlos III de Madrid; University of California System; University of California Los Angeles; National Bureau of Economic Research
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0304-3878
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2011.02.003
• 发表日期: 2012
• 页码: 322-338
• 关键词: Ethnolinguistic cleavages; diversity; Linguistic trees; civil conflict; redistribution; public goods; GROWTH

摘要

This 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. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.