Ethnic fractionalization raises the probability a state is less democratic

Evidence

From the coefficients reported in Table 2 one can compute the marginal effects on the probability of a political system of being less democratic. The impact of a 1 percent change in ethnic fractionalization on the probability of being in the less democratic group increases by about 0.14, using both measures of fractionalization. Including income, the size of the marginal effect is halved. — Philippe Aghion, Alberto Alesina, and Francesco Trebbi, Endogenous Political Institutions, 173

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the broader literature linking heterogeneity to weak democratic institutions, e.g. Acemoglu and Robinson’s work on de facto versus de jure power.