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Public Infrastructure Provision and Ethnic Favouritism: Evidence from South Africa

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  • Leone Walters

    (Department of Economics, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa)

  • Manoel Bittencourt

    (School of Economic and Business Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand)

  • Carolyn Chisadza

    (Department of Economics, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa)

Abstract

Does ethnic favouritism in administrative governments affect public infrastructure provision? While previous literature has studied the effects of ethnic favouritism on economic growth and development determinants, there has been limited empirical evidence on ethnic favouritism in public infrastructure provision, particularly in South Africa. We study the effects of ethnic favouritism on provision of water and electricity infrastructure. Using municipal-level data for 52 district municipalities from 1996 to 2016, we find that coethnic municipalities are associated with higher growth in infrastructure relative to non-coethnic municipalities. The results remain robust to time and municipal fixed effects, as well as dynamic specifications. Additionally, we construct a counterfactual scenario to confirm our results.

Suggested Citation

  • Leone Walters & Manoel Bittencourt & Carolyn Chisadza, 2019. "Public Infrastructure Provision and Ethnic Favouritism: Evidence from South Africa," Working Papers 201949, University of Pretoria, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:pre:wpaper:201949
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    Cited by:

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Ethnic Favouritism; South Africa; Public Infrastructure;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • H54 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Infrastructures
    • O55 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Africa

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