10.17889/E110164V1
Wacziarg, Romain
Desmet, Klaus
Ortuño-Ortín, Ignacio
Replication data for: Culture, Ethnicity, and Diversity
ICPSR Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research
2017
10.1257/aer.20150243
10.1257/aer.20150243
1
We investigate the empirical relationship between ethnicity and culture, defined as a vector of traits reflecting norms, values, and attitudes. Using survey data for 76 countries, we find that ethnic identity is a significant predictor of cultural values, yet that within-group variation in culture trumps between-group variation. Thus, in contrast to a commonly held view, ethnic and cultural diversity are unrelated. Although only a small portion of a country's overall cultural heterogeneity occurs between groups, we find that various political economy outcomes (such as civil conflict and public goods provision) worsen when there is greater overlap between ethnicity and culture.