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Globalization and the Ethnic Divide: Recent Longitudinal Evidence *
Author(s) -
Wunnava Phanindra V.,
Mitra Aniruddha,
Prasch Robert E.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
social science quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.482
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1540-6237
pISSN - 0038-4941
DOI - 10.1111/ssqu.12176
Subject(s) - ethnic group , globalization , autocracy , sample (material) , development economics , period (music) , longitudinal sample , economics , economic globalization , demographic economics , estimation , political science , democracy , politics , psychology , market economy , developmental psychology , chemistry , physics , management , chromatography , acoustics , law
Objective This article investigates the impact of increasing global integration on economic growth, emphasizing its interaction with the level of ethnic heterogeneity in a society. Methods We perform a feasible generalized least squares estimation of a random effects model on a longitudinal sample of 103 countries taken over the period 1992–2005. Results We find that economic globalization has generally had a beneficial impact on economic growth. We also find that societies marked by greater ethnic heterogeneity have gained more from global integration. Further, while ethnic heterogeneity has been a significant impediment to growth over the sample period, religious and linguistic heterogeneity have not. Finally, we find that democracies have significantly outperformed autocracies over this period. Conclusion Our results suggest that globalization may have a role in redressing the detrimental impact of ethnic cleavages in a society.