DRAFT VERSION
David Richards
Assistant Professor
Texas Lutheran University
Ethnic Group Integration into the Post Colonial State Nationalism:
Trinidad and Nigeria
In a previous study of postcolonial states in the Caribbean and Africa (Richards
2007) the effect of ethnic fractionalization on economic growth was examined. The
central theory focused on how increased levels of diversity would lead to slower
economic growth because high rates of ethnic fractionalization created barriers to doing
business. Issues like commonalities, trust and cross-cultural understanding would be
adversely affected by fractionalization. In the Africa sample it appeared to be the case
that fractionalization had a significant negative effect on economic growth. Yet this was
not true for the Caribbean. There the variable was not significant. Why did this variable
act differently in the two regions
? Did groups in the Caribbean have a commonality that
groups in Africa did not?
1
Previous studies (Richards 2007) showed a negative growth rate (-6.89) for Sub-Saharan Africa in year to
year GDP, significant at the 0.000 level (using Chain GDP) with ethnic fractionalization (from Alsina et al
2000) as the dependent. Regression for the same dependent using Caribbean states’ GDP the growth rate
was 0.91, but the p |z| was 0.361, suggesting there is not a statistically significant relationship between the
two variables in the Caribbean region.
3
Convention