Ethnic Diversity and Economic Performance in China: The Role of Education, FDI, and Trade

This article analyzes the effect of ethnic diversity on China’s economic performance. We claim that the conventional ethnic diversity indices may not be adequate for appropriately estimating the effect of ethnic diversity on economic performance in China, so we develop revised ethnic diversity indices. Consistent with the existing literature, we find that ethnic diversity alone worsens economic performance. However, dummies for ethnic diversity education and foreign direct investment (FDI) have a positive effect on economic performance. The marginal impact of education raises economic performance because it improves communication ability across diverse ethnic groups. At the same time, the expansion of FDI can create a proper context for ethnic groups to work together in order to improve economic performance. However, the ethnic diversity trade dummy does not significantly affect economic performance.