IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/pra/mprapa/101263.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Two ethnic security dilemmas and their economic origin

Author

Listed:
  • Khemraj, Tarron

Abstract

The paper outlines two ethnic security dilemmas (ESDs) that permeate Guyanese economic and political life. At the heart of the ESDs are strategic uncertainty of voters and the joy of destruction (envy) of political leaders. Most voters vote pro-ethnically and leaders of one political party find strategies to undermine the other. The prize is the control of government and associated economic opportunities. This view is supported by a survey of Guyanese historical political and economic contests. The dilemmas occur because the interrelated political strategies of the two ethnic-based parties produce a sub-optimal economic outcome for everyone, although a superior economic outcome (equilibrium) exists but cannot be achieved because the dominant parties find it impossible to coordinate and cooperate within the confines of the present constitutional and electoral frameworks. High strategic uncertainty and low inter-group trust fuel the inherent dilemmas among voters and political leaders. Ideas or metaphors from applied game theory are used to define the ESDs more precisely and suggest possible solutions.

Suggested Citation

  • Khemraj, Tarron, 2019. "Two ethnic security dilemmas and their economic origin," MPRA Paper 101263, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:101263
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/101263/1/MPRA_paper_101263.pdf
    File Function: original version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Michael DaCosta, 2007. "Colonial Origins, Institutions and Economic Performance in the Caribbean: Guyana and Barbados," IMF Working Papers 2007/043, International Monetary Fund.
    2. Bulmer-Thomas,Victor, 2012. "The Economic History of the Caribbean since the Napoleonic Wars," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521145602, October.
    3. ,, 2004. "Problems And Solutions," Econometric Theory, Cambridge University Press, vol. 20(2), pages 427-429, April.
    4. Constantine, Collin & Khemraj, Tarron, 2019. "Geography, economic structures and institutions: A synthesis," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 371-379.
    5. Abbink, Klaus & Sadrieh, Abdolkarim, 2009. "The pleasure of being nasty," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 105(3), pages 306-308, December.
    6. Straub, Paul G., 1995. "Risk dominance and coordination failures in static games," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 339-363.
    7. Casal, Sandro & Güth, Werner & Jia, Mofei & Ploner, Matteo, 2012. "Would you mind if I get more? An experimental study of the envy game," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 84(3), pages 857-865.
    8. Daniel J. Zizzo & Andrew J. Oswald, 2001. "Are People Willing to Pay to Reduce Others'Incomes?," Annals of Economics and Statistics, GENES, issue 63-64, pages 39-65.
    9. Amartya K. Sen, 1967. "Isolation, Assurance and the Social Rate of Discount," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 81(1), pages 112-124.
    10. Daron Acemoglu & Simon Johnson & James A. Robinson, 2002. "Reversal of Fortune: Geography and Institutions in the Making of the Modern World Income Distribution," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 117(4), pages 1231-1294.
    11. Collin Constantine, 2017. "Economic structures, institutions and economic performance," Journal of Economic Structures, Springer;Pan-Pacific Association of Input-Output Studies (PAPAIOS), vol. 6(1), pages 1-18, December.
    12. ,, 2004. "Problems And Solutions," Econometric Theory, Cambridge University Press, vol. 20(1), pages 223-229, February.
    13. Michael R. Powers & Zhan Shen, 2008. "Social Stability and Catastrophe Risk: Lessons From the Stag Hunt," Journal of Theoretical Politics, , vol. 20(4), pages 477-497, October.
    14. repec:adr:anecst:y:2001:i:63-64:p:03 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Fredrik Jansson & Kimmo Eriksson, 2015. "Cooperation and Shared Beliefs about Trust in the Assurance Game," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(12), pages 1-13, December.
    16. Bulmer-Thomas,Victor, 2012. "The Economic History of the Caribbean since the Napoleonic Wars," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521198899, January.
    17. Michael Moohr, 1972. "The Economic Impact of Slave Emancipation in British Guiana, 1832–1852," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 25(4), pages 588-606, November.
    18. Christina Fang & Steven Orla Kimbrough & Stefano Pace & Annapurna Valluri & Zhiqiang Zheng, 2002. "On Adaptive Emergence of Trust Behavior in the Game of Stag Hunt," Group Decision and Negotiation, Springer, vol. 11(6), pages 449-467, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Pasha, Sukrishnalall, 2020. "The impact of political instability on economic growth: the case of Guyana," MPRA Paper 103145, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Constantine, Collin & Khemraj, Tarron, 2019. "Geography, economic structures and institutions: A synthesis," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 371-379.
    2. Blanca Sánchez‐Alonso, 2019. "The age of mass migration in Latin America," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 72(1), pages 3-31, February.
    3. Tarron Khemraj, 2016. "The Political Economy of Guyana’s Underdevelopment," The Review of Black Political Economy, Springer;National Economic Association, vol. 43(3), pages 325-342, December.
    4. Christian Thöni, 2014. "Inequality aversion and antisocial punishment," Theory and Decision, Springer, vol. 76(4), pages 529-545, April.
    5. Agnieszka Kurdyś-Kujawska & Agnieszka Sompolska-Rzechuła & Joanna Pawłowska-Tyszko & Michał Soliwoda, 2021. "Crop Insurance, Land Productivity and the Environment: A Way forward to a Better Understanding," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-17, November.
    6. Wenfeng Chi & Yuanyuan Zhao & Wenhui Kuang & Tao Pan & Tu Ba & Jinshen Zhao & Liang Jin & Sisi Wang, 2021. "Impact of Cropland Evolution on Soil Wind Erosion in Inner Mongolia of China," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-16, June.
    7. Nick Middleton & Utchang Kang, 2017. "Sand and Dust Storms: Impact Mitigation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(6), pages 1-22, June.
    8. Belot, Michèle & Schröder, Marina, 2013. "Sloppy work, lies and theft: A novel experimental design to study counterproductive behaviour," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 233-238.
    9. Tarantino, Emanuele & Pavanini, Nicola & Mayordomo, Sergio, 2020. "The Impact of Alternative Forms of Bank Consolidation on Credit Supply and Financial Stability," CEPR Discussion Papers 15069, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    10. Guha, Brishti, 2018. "Malice in the Rubinstein bargaining game," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 82-86.
    11. Misbah Haque & Imran Ali, 2016. "Uncertain Environment and Organizational Performance: The Mediating Role of Organizational Innovation," Asian Social Science, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 12(9), pages 124-124, September.
    12. Dickinson, David L. & Masclet, David & Peterle, Emmanuel, 2018. "Discrimination as favoritism: The private benefits and social costs of in-group favoritism in an experimental labor market," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 220-236.
    13. David Schüller & Thorsten Upmann, 2013. "When Focal Points are Out of Focus: A Game-Theoretic Analysis of Come Dine with Me," CESifo Working Paper Series 4138, CESifo.
    14. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/2082 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. , & ,, 2015. "Strategy-proofness and efficiency with non-quasi-linear preferences: a characterization of minimum price Walrasian rule," Theoretical Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 10(2), May.
    16. Jesus M. Carro & Alejandra Traferri, 2014. "State Dependence And Heterogeneity In Health Using A Bias‐Corrected Fixed‐Effects Estimator," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(2), pages 181-207, March.
    17. Nobuyoshi Yamori & Ayami Kobayashi, 2007. "Wealth Effect Of Public Fund Injections To Ailing Banks: Do Deferred Tax Assets And Auditing Firms Matter?," The Japanese Economic Review, Japanese Economic Association, vol. 58(4), pages 466-483, December.
    18. Vladimir Krivtsov & Brian J. D’Arcy & Alejandro Escribano Sevilla & Scott Arthur & Chris Semple, 2021. "Mitigating Polluted Runoff from Industrial Estates by SUDS Retrofits: Case Studies of Problems and Solutions Co-Designed with a Participatory Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-24, November.
    19. Werner, Katharina & Graf Lambsdorff, Johann, 2016. "Emotional numbing and lessons learned after a violent conflict - Experimental evidence from Ambon, Indonesia," Passauer Diskussionspapiere, Volkswirtschaftliche Reihe V-74-16, University of Passau, Faculty of Business and Economics.
    20. Wong, Patricia J.Y., 2015. "Eigenvalues of a general class of boundary value problem with derivative-dependent nonlinearity," Applied Mathematics and Computation, Elsevier, vol. 259(C), pages 908-930.
    21. Alexandre Belloni & Mitchell J. Lovett & William Boulding & Richard Staelin, 2012. "Optimal Admission and Scholarship Decisions: Choosing Customized Marketing Offers to Attract a Desirable Mix of Customers," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 31(4), pages 621-636, July.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    prisoners’ dilemma; stag hunt; inequality; economic underdevelopment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O10 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - General
    • O5 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies
    • O54 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Latin America; Caribbean
    • Z1 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:101263. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Joachim Winter (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vfmunde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.