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Linguistic Fractionalization and Health Information in Sub-Saharan Africa

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  • Joseph Flavian Gomes

Abstract

This paper explores the relationship between linguistic diversity and the stock of health information in society. Information is measured using individual-level knowledge about the oral rehydration product for treating children with diarrhea. Exploiting an individual woman-level dataset from the Demographic and Health Surveys for 14 sub-Saharan African countries combined with a novel high-resolution dataset on the spatial distribution of linguistic groups at a 1 km × 1 km level, this study shows that linguistic diversity has an inverted U-shaped relationship with the stock of information in society.

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  • Joseph Flavian Gomes, 2020. "Linguistic Fractionalization and Health Information in Sub-Saharan Africa," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 34(Supplemen), pages 20-25.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:wbecrv:v:34:y:2020:i:supplement_1:p:s20-s25.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/wber/lhz009
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Desmet, Klaus & Gomes, Joseph Flavian & Ortuño-Ortín, Ignacio, 2020. "The geography of linguistic diversity and the provision of public goods," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    2. William Easterly & Ross Levine, 1997. "Africa's Growth Tragedy: Policies and Ethnic Divisions," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 112(4), pages 1203-1250.
    3. Joseph Flavian Gomes, 2020. "The health costs of ethnic distance: evidence from sub-Saharan Africa," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 25(2), pages 195-226, June.
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    1. Joseph Flavian Gomes, 2020. "The health costs of ethnic distance: evidence from sub-Saharan Africa," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 25(2), pages 195-226, June.

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