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Cultural diversity, institutions, and urban economic performance

Cultural diversity, institutions, and urban economic performance
Cultural diversity, institutions, and urban economic performance
Interactions between culturally diverse individuals can spur economic benefits by stimulating new ideas that raise urban residents’ productivity. But diversity can also diminish economic well-being by making communication difficult, and by stimulating conflict. This paper investigates whether urban institutions—in particular residents’ sense of generalized trust—determine when diversity is an economic asset and when it is a liability. To do so, data on trust, birthplace diversity, wages, and demographics in US metropolitan areas are combined. The evidence suggests that workers are much better able to harness the productivity-enhancing spillovers that arise from cultural diversity when they live in cities endowed with strong informal institutions.
0308-518X
2134-2152
Kemeny, Thomas
b9e4ac0c-bc73-4905-8229-f970518cde88
Kemeny, Thomas
b9e4ac0c-bc73-4905-8229-f970518cde88

Kemeny, Thomas (2012) Cultural diversity, institutions, and urban economic performance. Environment and Planning A, 44 (9), 2134-2152. (doi:10.1068/a44385).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Interactions between culturally diverse individuals can spur economic benefits by stimulating new ideas that raise urban residents’ productivity. But diversity can also diminish economic well-being by making communication difficult, and by stimulating conflict. This paper investigates whether urban institutions—in particular residents’ sense of generalized trust—determine when diversity is an economic asset and when it is a liability. To do so, data on trust, birthplace diversity, wages, and demographics in US metropolitan areas are combined. The evidence suggests that workers are much better able to harness the productivity-enhancing spillovers that arise from cultural diversity when they live in cities endowed with strong informal institutions.

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More information

Published date: 2012
Organisations: Economy, Society and Space

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 369533
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/369533
ISSN: 0308-518X
PURE UUID: b1246235-c240-4dce-97dc-d44cef24121b

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Date deposited: 06 Oct 2014 10:47
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 18:05

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Author: Thomas Kemeny

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