Cited by 3,432Culture, Economy, and Development StudiesEconomic Growth and ProductivityPolitical Conflict and Governance

Fractionalization

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Alesina, Alberto, Devleeschauwer, Arnaud, Easterly, William, Kurlat, Sergio, Wacziarg, Romain·2003·Journal of Economic Growth

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Crossref · 10.1023/a:1024471506938

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  • The Alesina fractionalization index has widely been used in empirical analysis.

    “However, Alesina's fractionalization index has widely been used in empirical analysis.”

    From Diversity Matters in the World of Finance: Does Ethnic and Religious Diversity Hinder Financial Development in Developing Countries? (2025) · cites this paper as Alesina et al. 2003

    The Introduction says a measure of ethnic fractionalization had become a standard control in cross-country regressions, and Section 2.1 introduces the authors’ new measures. But Section 2.2 identifies the index usually used in earlier literature as one based on Soviet data. The copy does not establish that the new Alesina index itself had been widely used. (LLM, conf=0.84)

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  • The correlation between the index of fractionalization obtained using alternative data sources is very high (over 0.8).

    “In general the correlation between the index of fractionalization obtained using these alternative data sources is very high (over 0.8).”

    From Ethnic Polarization, Potential Conflict, and Civil Wars (2005) · cites this paper as Alesina et al (2003)

    Section 2.2 reports a correlation of 0.88 between the paper’s linguistic index and the Soviet index, supporting one instance of the claim. But the corresponding ethnic-index correlation is 0.76, and the paper says the religious index has much lower correlations, so it does not support the generalization that correlations exceed 0.8. (LLM, conf=0.88)

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  • Ethnic fractionalization has a negative effect on growth.

    “In recent years many authors have found empirical evidence that ethnic fractionalization has a negative e/ect on growth.”

    From Ethnic Polarization, Potential Conflict, and Civil Wars (2005) · cites this paper as Alesina et al. 2003

  • The correlation with the index of Alesina et al. (2003) is 0.83.

    “The correlation with the index of Alesina et al. (2003) is 0.83.”

    From Ethnic Polarization, Potential Conflict, and Civil Wars (2005) · cites this paper as Alesina et al. (2003)

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Cites

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Research works printed but not linked: 16

  1. Acemoglu D. , S. Johnson, and J. Robinson (2001), "The Colonial Ori- gins of Comparative Development" American Economic Review, vol. 91, no. 5, December, 1369-1401.
  2. Alesina A., R. Baqir and W. Easterly (1999), "Public Goods and Ethnic Divisions" Quarterly Journal of Economics, vol. 114, no. 4, November, pp. 1243-1284.
  3. Alesina A. and E. La Ferrara (2000), "Participation in Heterogeneous Communities", Quarterly Journal of Economics, vol. 115, no. 3, Au- gust, pp. 847-904.
  4. Alesina A. and E. La Ferrara (2002), "Who Trust Others?" Journal of Public Economics, forthcoming.
  5. Alesina A. and R. Wacziarg (1998), "Openness, Country Size and Gov- ernment", Journal of Public Economics, vol. 69, no. 3, September, p. 305-321.
  6. Brock, S. and S. Durlauf (2001), "Growth Empirics and Reality", World Bank Economic Review, vol. 15, No. 2, pp. 229-272.
  7. Easterly W. and R. Levine (1997), "Africa's Growth Tragedy: Policies and Ethnic Divisions", Quarterly Journal of Economics, vol. 111, no. 4, November, pp. 1203-1250.
  8. Glaeser E. and A. Shleifer (2002), "Legal Origins", Quarterly Journal of Economics, forthcoming.
  9. Hammersley, M. and P. Atkinson (1995), Ethnography: Principles in Practice (2nd edition), Routledge.
  10. Klein, Herbert S. (1992), Bolivia: the Evolution of a Multi-Ethnic So- ciety, 2nd Edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  11. La Porta R., F. Lopez de Silanes, A. Shleifer and R. Vishny (1999), "The Quality of Government", Journal of Law, Economics and Orga- nization, vol. 15, no. 1, March, pp. 222-279.
  12. Levinson D. (1998) Ethnic Groups Worldwide, A Ready Reference Handbook, Phoenix: Oryx Press.
  13. Marcus, H. (1994), A History of Ethiopia, Berkeley: University of Cal- ifornia Press.
  14. Mauro P. (1995), "Corruption and Growth" Quarterly Journal of Eco- nomics, vol. 110, no. 3, August, pp. 681-712.
  15. Rodrik D. (1998), "Why Do More Open Economies Have Bigger Gov- ernments?" Journal of Political Economy, vol. 106, no. 5, October, pp. 997-1032.
  16. Scarrit James R. and Shaheen Moza¤ar (1999), "The Speci…cation of Ethnic Cleavages and Ethnopolitical Groups for the Analysis of Demo- cratic Competition in Contemporary Africa", Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, vol. 5, no.1, Spring, pp. 82-117.

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Authors
Alesina, A., Devleeschauwer, A., Easterly, W., Kurlat, S., & Wacziarg, R.
Affiliations
  • Harvard University (US)
  • New York University (US)
  • World Bank (US)
  • Stanford University (US)
Venue
Journal of Economic Growth
Published
2003-06
Volume
8
Issue
2
Pages
155-194
ISSN
  • 1381-4338 (ISSN-L)
  • 1573-7020
OpenAlex
W4232508652
Cited by
3,432
References
1
Citations by year
2026: 122 · 2025: 209 · 2024: 176 · 2023: 183 · 2022: 185 · 2021: 208 · 2020: 273 · 2019: 206 · 2018: 198 · 2017: 197 · 2016: 216 · 2015: 204 · 2014: 177 · 2013: 150 · 2012: 139
FWCI
111.06
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Journal of Economic Growth (publishedVersion)
  • Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard (DASH) (Harvard University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • Dépôt institutionnel de l'Université libre de Bruxelles (Université Libre de Bruxelles) (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Demography › Culture, Economy, and Development Studies
  • Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Economics and Econometrics › Economic Growth and Productivity
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Political Conflict and Governance
Keywords
ethnic fractionalization, religious fractionalization, ethnic diversity, linguistic heterogeneity, religious diversity, polarization, institutional quality, economic growth, cross-country data, endogeneity

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