ETHNOLINGUISTIC DIVERSITY AS A POTENTIAL ECONOMIC BENEFIT FOR COUNTRIES: IMPLICATIONS FOR INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL ECONOMY
There is a prevailing opinion, in the field of International Political Economy, thatethnolinguistic diversity has a negative impact on the economic performance of countries.Some of the scholars, however, have argued against it and stated that, under certaincircumstances, the negative impact of diversity is mitigated or even reversed. According tothem diversity can have a positive impact on the economy.The dissertation took upon the endeavor to examine this proposition within thecontext of the OECD countries, and to see to what extent this argument is supported by thedata. The dissertation began from identifying the conditions under which ethnic diversity canbring positive economic outcomes. It based its quest of the moderating variables on theorganizational science, where the scholars have conducted extensive research concerning theimpact of diversity on the performance of firms. Then, the dissertation transposed theresearch to the level of countries and designed a statistical model to assess the impact ofethnolinguistic diversity on economic outcomes, which were defined in terms of innovation.The dissertation stated the hypothesis that, in the presence of the right context,ethnolinguistic diversity leads to higher levels of innovativeness and thus, constitutes aneconomic benefit for countries.The statistical analysis, which included factor analyses and simple cross-countryregressions, provided support for the hypothesis. The results of the regressions have shownthat, for the OECD countries, ethnolinguistic diversity, when accompanied by the rightcontext, indeed leads to higher levels of creativity, openness and innovativeness. TheInnovation Focused Strategy and Democratic Pluralism emerged as the main moderators ofiiithe positive relationship between diversity and innovativeness. The results have alsosomewhat supported the Growth Focused Strategy as one of the moderators.The dissertation results have direct relevance for the discussions in the field ofInternational Political Economy concerning the matter of state unity. They indicate thatthere is a value in heterogenous societies, which is related to higher innovativeness.Therefore, the international community should encourage the functioning of multiethnicstates and discourage secessions, at least in relation to advanced economies.
Year of publication: |
2007-04-16
|
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Authors: | Aleksy-Szucsich, Agnieszka |
Subject: | Innovation | Cultural diversity | Diversity and innovation | Ethnic diversity | Diversity and benefit | International political economy |
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