A global map of Amenities: Public Goods, Ethnic Divisions and Decentralization

Abstract

I analyze the effects of ethnic divisions on the provision of public goods. Using OpenStreetMap data, I construct a new global dataset of locations of public amenities, such as schools, hospital and libraries. I allow for the possibility that the data may be systematically incomplete using two new proxies for mapping completeness. I provide strong evidence that more autonomous subnational regions with a high degree of ethnic fractionalization provide significantly fewer productive public goods. Therefore, my findings indicate that decentralization can lead to a failure in the provision of local public goods when it increases ethnical fractionalization among the policy makers responsible for collectively supplying public goods.

Original document

The different versions of the original document can be found in:

• http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3457141

• http://hdl.handle.net/10419/224555