Estimados/as Académicos/as,

Les extendemos la invitación al seminario que organiza el Departamento de Economía, en el que se presentará el trabajo titulado "Hierarchy Differences and the Social Foundations of State Capacity".

Expone: Miriam Artiles, Profesora asistente, Instituto de Economía, Universidad Católica.

Coautores: Marta Reynal-Querol, Hans-Joachim Voth.

Abstract: Ethnic heterogeneity is robustly and negatively correlated with economic performance and public good provision. What drives these patterns is less clear, as ethnicity is only a weak predictor of culture in the data. We examine a new angle––historical differences in deep-rooted culture across ethnic groups within the same country. We first show that historical cultural fractionalization is a far better predictor of state capacity and development outcomes than historical levels of the same cultural variables. One variable stands out for its predictive power: fragmentation in historical hierarchy. Differences in ethnic groups’ historical experience with hierarchical organization are systematically associated with lower state capacity at the country level: tax pressure is lower, public good provision is limited, and corruption is more common. Historical fragmentation in hierarchy is also a strong predictor of lower income and nightlight.  Importantly, these effects cannot be explained by ethno-linguistic fragmentation. To pin down causality, we instrument historical hierarchy differences with soil-induced variation in crop cultivation, which in turn predicts lower tax revenue, public good provision, and per capita output. Within countries, hierarchy differences are also associated with lower inter-ethnic trust and greater divergence in policy preferences.

El formato será presencial en la sala T-1605.

Saludos cordiales,

Dirección de Investigación