Understanding ethnolinguistic differences: The roles of geography and trade

The Economic Journal • Vol/Iss. 132(643) • Oxford University Press • • Published In • Pages: 1-28 •
By Dickens, Andrew

Hypothesis

High land productivity variation will be associated with less language difference between neighboring ethnic groups.

Note

The author replicated the test with a “sibling-sample estimate” to account for language differences between ancestral relationships (vertical transmission of language). The results remained significant (p<.01, b= -.188 to -.088).

Test

Test NameSupportSignificanceCoefficientTail
Multiple regressionSupportedp<.01post-1500: b=-.100; pre-1500: b= -.061UNKNOWN