Premium
Public Goods and Ethnic Diversity: Evidence from Deforestation in Indonesia
Author(s) -
Alesina Alberto,
Gennaioli Caterina,
Lovo Stefania
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
economica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.532
H-Index - 65
eISSN - 1468-0335
pISSN - 0013-0427
DOI - 10.1111/ecca.12285
Subject(s) - fractionalization , ethnic group , public good , deforestation (computer science) , ethnically diverse , punishment (psychology) , exploit , diversity (politics) , empirical evidence , development economics , demographic economics , economics , public economics , political science , social psychology , psychology , microeconomics , programming language , computer science , law , philosophy , computer security , epistemology
This paper shows that the level of deforestation in Indonesia is positively related to the degree of ethnic fractionalization. To identify a causal relation, we exploit the exogenous timing of variation in the level of ethnic heterogeneity due to the creation of new jurisdictions. We provide evidence consistent with a lower control of politicians, through electoral punishment, in more ethnically fragmented districts. Our results are consistent with the literature on (under)provision of public goods in ethnically diverse societies.