title: Ethnic Inequality.
abstract: This study explores the consequences and origins of between-ethnicity economic inequality across countries. First, combining satellite images of nighttime luminosity with the historical homelands of ethnolinguistic groups we construct measures of ethnic inequality for a large sample of countries. We also compile proxies of overall spatial inequality and regional inequality across administrative units. Second, we uncover a strong negative association between ethnic inequality and contemporary comparative development; the correlation is also present when we condition on regional inequality, which is itself related to under-development. Third, we investigate the roots of ethnic inequality and establish that differences in geographic endowments across ethnic homelands explain a sizable fraction of the observed variation in economic disparities across groups. Fourth, we show that ethnic-specific inequality in geographic endowments is also linked to under-development.
authors.affiliation: Harvard University, IGIER, CEPR, and NBER.
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Alesina
authors.affiliation: Brown University, and NBER.
authors.forename: Stelios
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Michalopoulos
authors.affiliation: London Business School, CEPR, and NBER.
authors.forename: Elias
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Papaioannou
keywords: Development; Diversity; Ethnicity; Geography; Inequality