TY  - JOUR
AU  - Michalopoulos, Stelios
AU  - Papaioannou, Elias
TI  - The Long-Run Effects of the Scramble for Africa
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 17620
PY  - 2011
Y2  - November 2011
DO  - 10.3386/w17620
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w17620
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w17620.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Stelios Michalopoulos
Brown University
Department of Economics
64 Waterman Street
Providence, RI 02912
Tel: 401/863-2506
Fax: 401/863-1970
E-Mail: smichalo@brown.edu

Elias Papaioannou
London Business School
Regent's Park
Sussex Place
London 
London NW1 4SA
United Kingdom
Tel:  +44 (0) 207000 8432
Fax: +44 (0) 207000 8401
E-Mail: papaioannou.elias@gmail.com
AB  - 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.
ER  -