Data and Code for: Cultural Distance and Ethnic Civil Conflict

Principal Investigator(s):  View help for Principal Investigator(s) Eleonora Guarnieri, University of Bristol

Version:  View help for Version V1

Name File Type Size Last Modified
  Replication 02/18/2025 12:48:PM

Project Citation: 

Guarnieri, Eleonora. Data and Code for: Cultural Distance and Ethnic Civil Conflict. Nashville, TN: American Economic Association [publisher], 2025. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2025-03-10. https://doi.org/10.3886/E212201V1

Project Description

Summary:  View help for Summary
Ethnically diverse countries are more prone to conflict, but why do some groups engage in conflict while others do not? I show that civil conflict in Africa is explained by ethnic groups’ cultural distance to the central government: an increase in cultural distance, proxied by linguistic distance, increases an ethnicity’s propensity to fight over government power. To identify this effect, I leverage within-ethnicity variation in linguistic distance resulting from power transitions between ethnic groups over time. I provide evidence that the effects can be attributed to differences in preferences over both the allocation and the type of public goods.

Scope of Project

Subject Terms:  View help for Subject Terms Ethnic civil war; culture; linguistic distance; Africa; Bantu expansion
JEL Classification:  View help for JEL Classification
      D74 Conflict; Conflict Resolution; Alliances; Revolutions
      O55 Economywide Country Studies: Africa
      Z10 Cultural Economics; Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology: General
Geographic Coverage:  View help for Geographic Coverage Africa
Time Period(s):  View help for Time Period(s) 1961 – 2017
Data Type(s):  View help for Data Type(s) geographic information system (GIS) data; observational data; survey data

Methodology

Unit(s) of Observation:  View help for Unit(s) of Observation Ethnic groups, individuals

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Published Versions

V1 [2025-03-10]

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