Can Ethno-Linguistic Diversity Explain Cross-Country Differences in Social Capital?: A Global Perspective

What is it about?

The paper considers metrics of social norms and values (at the aggregate level of a given country), to look their association with the degree of a country's ethno-linguistic diversity. The key finding is this: countries with fractionalized ethnic and linguistic groups, as captured by number of languages and measures of linguistic diversity, tend to have lower levels of social trust, fewer memberships in social organisations, and deteriorated social norms.

Featured Image

Why is it important?

In the debate on economic growth, we provide indirect support for the link between ethnic fractionalisation and growth. In the context of the debate on globalization, one might wonder how countries compare - even at an aggregate, e.g. Asia and Africa: our results suggest that ethnic fractionalisation caused by immigration and cultural divergence matters more for the decline in social capital than diversity associated with languages. Also, we provide empirical evidence to theoretical arguments that assert a negative impact of ethno-linguistic diversity on social capital.

Perspectives