The Long-Run Effects of the Scramble for Africa

Stelios Michalopoulos, Elias Papaioannou

NBER Working Paper No. 17620
Issued in November 2011, Revised in November 2015
NBER Program(s):Economic Fluctuations and Growth, International Finance and Macroeconomics, Political Economy

We examine the long-run consequences of ethnic partitioning, a neglected aspect of the Scramble for Africa, and uncover the following regularities. First, apart from the land mass and presence of water bodies, historical homelands of split and non-split groups are similar across many observable characteristics. Second, using georeferenced data on political violence, that include both state-driven conflict and violence against civilians, we find that the incidence, severity and duration of violence are higher in the historical homelands of partitioned groups. Third, we shed some light on the mechanisms showing that military interventions from neighboring countries are much more likely in the homelands of split groups. Fourth, our exploration of the status of ethnic groups in the political arena reveals that partitioned ethnicities are systematically discriminated from the national government and are more likely to participate in ethnic civil wars. Fifth, using individual-level data we document that respondents identifying with split groups have lower access to public goods and worse educational outcomes. The uncovered evidence brings in the foreground the detrimental repercussions of ethnic partitioning.

Acknowledgments

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Document Object Identifier (DOI): 10.3386/w17620

Published: Stelios Michalopoulos & Elias Papaioannou, 2016. "The Long-Run Effects of the Scramble for Africa," American Economic Review, vol 106(7), pages 1802-1848. citation courtesy of

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