Economic Benefits Of Ethnolinguistic Diversity

Prevailing interpretation in international political economy following the work of such analysts as Easterly and Alesina, is that ethnic and linguistic diversity is harmful to economic development because it is a source of division and even destructive political conflict. This study takes a very different view. It argues that ethnic and linguistic diversity is a source of creativity and productivity in society and therefore is an indispensable component of economic development. Based on an examination of advanced-industrial (OECD) countries, this is the first study to show at the macro-level across countries that ethnic and linguistic diversity is a positive source of creativity for society. Extensive econometric analysis backs up the empirical findings of the study. This work promises to steer international political economy in a new direction. It will highlight the positive contributions to entrepreneurship, technological innovation, and economic growth in the modern society of the Information Age. An important qualification of the findings is that the study shows how important government support is for research and development. Without this support much of the creativity in society in terms of skill and manpower gets lost or wasted. This book is original and groundbreaking. It adds a new dimension to the fields of international political economy and international political finance.

Master's Thesis from the year 2017 in the subject Economics - Other, grade: 1,7, http://www.uni-jena.de/, language: English, abstract: Many developing countries do not only suffer from weak institutions, poor economic performance and corruption, but also from separatist movements and violent civil conflicts. The question arises why some countries could achieve economic growth and development, while others never experienced considerable economic development and are trapped in a vicious circle of re-occurring violent conflicts and economic deterioration. Since developing countries tend to be more diverse in terms of ethnicity, language and religion and many civil conflicts appear to have an ethnic or religious component, diversity is regarded as a main cause of economic and political instability. Furthermore, many scholars consider higher levels of diversity in the least developed countries to be the crucial factor that leads to inefficient policy decisions and impedes growth and development. This master thesis addresses the question how diversity affects economic and political stability and elaborates appropriate parameters which are further used in a composite indicator (CI) to quantify a country’s stability, respectively instability. The thesis is structured as follows: After a review of the literature on the relations between diversity and economic development and civil conflicts in chapter two, the historic and environmental conditions under which different ethnic and linguistic groups emerged are described. Further, the effects of external shocks which shaped ethnic development in the special case of Africa are assessed. Chapter four introduces the most common measurements of ethnic, linguistic and religious diversity and describes the differences between fractionalisation and polarisation. Several studies describing the effects of different aspects of diversity on various economic and political outcomes are discussed. This is followed by chapter five which is addressing the causes of instability and civil conflict. It is examined how conflict, as the major outcome of instability, is related to and can be driven by diversity and which roles economic and institutional aspects play in explaining civil conflicts. In the subsequent part, several indicators which capture different aspects of stability are critically assessed. Further, parameters and their respective weights towards a new composite indicator of instability are elaborated. Subsequently, chapter seven concludes.

The populations of many countries in the world are becoming more culturally diverse. This spurs a growing need for an informed debate on the socio-economic implications of cultural diversity. This book offers a solid statistical and econometric perspec

Ethnic diversity and solidarity are often thought to be at odds with each other. In an increasingly diverse society, individuals find it more difficult to identify with other citizens and, therefore, are less willing to show solidarity. Empirical tests of the relationship between diversity and solidarity are, however, inconclusive. This book tests the hypothesis that diversity undermines solidarity in various ways. It discusses the meaning of social solidarity and the different motives that people can have to act solidary, and it examines the relationship between ethnic diversity and solidarity at the national, regional and local levels. These empirical tests use multiple methods, such as an international survey, a vignette study among the Dutch population, and a field experiment involving visitors to a popular market in Amsterdam. The role of the mass media is examined by studying the images of different ethnic groups that are presented in some popular newspapers, TV programmes and a news provider on the Internet. The collection concludes that, although ethnicity is certainly an important factor in understanding patterns of solidarity, there is not a simple linear relationship between ethnic diversity and solidarity. Even though ethnic difference in itself may be a source of discrimination, one cannot conclude from this that increasing ethnic diversity will necessarily result in less solidarity.

Superdiversity explores processes of diversification and the complex, emergent social configurations that now supersede prior forms of diversity in societies around the world. Migration plays a key role in these processes, bringing changes not just in social, cultural, religious, and linguistic phenomena, but also in the ways that these phenomena combine with others like gender, age, and legal status. The concept of superdiversity has been adopted by scholars across the social sciences in order to address a variety of forms, modes, and outcomes of diversification. Central to this field is the relationship between social categorization and social organization, including stratification and inequality. Increasingly complex categories of social “difference” have significant impacts across scales, from entire societies to individual identities. While diversification is often met with simplifying stereotypes, threat narratives, and expressions of antagonism, superdiversity encourages a perspective on difference as comprising multiple social processes, flexible collective meanings, and overlapping personal and group identities. A superdiversity approach encourages the re-evaluation and recognition of social categories as multidimensional, unfixed, and porous as opposed to views based on hardened, one-dimensional thinking about groups. Diversification and increasing social complexity are bound to continue, if not intensify, in light of climate change. This will have profound impacts on the nature of global migration, social relations, and inequalities. Superdiversity presents a convincing case for recognizing new social formations created by changing migration patterns and calls for a re-thinking of public policy and social scientific approaches to social difference. This introduction to the multidisciplinary concept of superdiversity will be of considerable interest to students and researchers in a range of fields in the humanities and social sciences. The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.

This highly accessible book illustrates how policy makers can address and nurture the effects of growing ethnic diversity in European labor markets. The contributors present an unprecedented large-scale study on ethnic diversity in European labor markets via a combination of hard data analysis with expert evaluation of integration practices and policy options. Key questions explored include: Does ethnic diversity in European labor markets lead to poor socio-economic outcomes for some ethnic groups in the face of fierce competition for jobs and welfare? Can labor immigration and improved integration of all ethnic groups provide a solution to the challenges posed by a shrinking population, an aging workforce, skill shortages and other bottlenecks that constrain the innovative potential of the EU? What can policy makers do to nurture and encourage the benefits of ethnic diversity in the EU?

Ethnic diversity has a more adverse effect on economic policy and growth when a government's institutions are poor. But poor institutions have an even more adverse effect on growth and policy when ethnic diversity is high.