Ethnic Heterogeneity and the Private Provision of Public Goods

Theoretically, more ethnic heterogeneity may lead to higher aggregate provision of privately provided public goods if ethnic heterogeneity increases the uncertainty about the aggregate level of public good provision. Empirical results in this paper, which are based on household survey data from Kampala, Uganda, show robust evidence that an increase in ethnic heterogeneity is associated with an increase in the willingness to contribute to public goods. The \u85ndings suggest that the mechanism through which public goods are provided, i.e. whether they are provided publicly or privately, is important in understanding the role of ethnic diversity on public goods provision