Socially Disadvantaged Ethnic Groups and Distributive Politics

This study examines whether socially disadvantaged ethnic groups practise favouritism when they reach national power. We use the case of Bolivia, where Evo Morales, a member of the traditionally disadvantaged Indigenous Aymara, became the first Indigenous president in 2005. We develop a theoretical framework to uncover the necessary conditions for favouritism. The incentives to practise favouritism vary according to the income and size of an ethnic group. In municipalities with higher incomes or relatively few Aymaras, favouritism is more likely. We investigate whether different forms of favouritism occur using a fuzzy regression discontinuity design and a first difference estimator. Our empirical results show no evidence of favouritism towards Aymaras at the national level. However, we do find evidence for favouritism in high-income areas or where few Aymara live. Ethnic groups thus differ in how much they tend to practise favouritism and how much they suffer when others do so