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Ethnic or Political Fractionalisation? A District Level Analysis of the Provision of Public Goods in S ri L anka
Author(s) -
Cooray Arusha
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
growth and change
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.657
H-Index - 55
eISSN - 1468-2257
pISSN - 0017-4815
DOI - 10.1111/grow.12060
Subject(s) - ethnic group , politics , public good , economics , political science , microeconomics , law
This study investigates the influence of ethnic and political fractionalisation on the provision of public goods at a district level in S ri L anka. Evidence shows that political fractionalisation has a greater negative impact on the provision of public goods compared with ethnic fractionalisation. Similarly, political polarisation has a greater negative effect on the provision of public goods compared with ethnic polarisation. The interaction between ethnic and political measures suggests that political fractionalisation (political polarisation) exacerbates the negative effects of ethnic fractionalisation (ethnic polarisation) on the provision of public goods. The ethnolinguistic fractionalisation ( ELF ) index assumes greater statistical significance under fixed effects estimation suggesting greater within district effects in the relationship between ELF and public good provision.