Africa's Health Tragedy? Ethnic Diversity and Health Outcomes
Year: 2010
Type: preprint
Abstract: Scholars have found ethnic diversity to be a key explanatory variable for economic growth and local public goods provision, and for certain health outcomes, such as infant mortality. In this paper, I examine the effect of ethnic diversity on a broad range of health outcomes in a global sample of countries, as well as by region and income level, with particular emphasis on the sample of sub-Saharan African countries. I also conduct an analysis of the relationship between ethnic diversity and health care provision at the sub-national level within the East African country Uganda. I find that in the global model, with a wide range of controls, greater ethnic diversity is associated with poorer health outcomes, including higher infant and child mortality, and lower public health expenditure. However, I find that the determinants of health outcomes, and the relationship between ethnic diversity and health outcomes, varies by region and income level. Within Africa, I find that variation in health outcomes is explained primarily by access to health facilities, as well as the quality of institutions. Within Uganda, I find that more ethnically diverse districts tend to have lower provision of health services but the same amount of physical health infrastructure as their homogeneous counterparts.
Source: SSRN Electronic Journal
Author: Melina Platas
Institution: Stanford University
Language: English
Topic: Global Health Care Issues
Subfield: Economics and Econometrics
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2266126644