Public Goods and Ethnic Diversity: Evidence from Deforestation in Indonesia / Alberto Alesina, Caterina Gennaioli, Stefania Lovo.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Alesina, Alberto.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Gennaioli, Caterina.

Lovo, Stefania.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w20504.

NBER working paper series no. w20504

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Other Title:

Public Goods and Ethnic Diversity

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2014.

Summary:

This paper shows that the level of deforestation in Indonesia is positively related to the degree of ethnic fractionalization at the district level. To identify a casual relation we exploit the exogenous timing of variations 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 bring a new perspective on the political economy of deforestation. They are consistent with the literature on (under) provision of public goods and social capital in ethnically diverse societies and suggest that when the underlying communities are ethnically fractionalized decentralisation can reduce deforestation by delegating powers to more homogeneous communities.

Notes:

Print version record

September 2014.