Culture, ethnicity, and diversity

We investigate the empirical relationship between ethnicity andculture, defined as a vector of traits reflecting norms, values, andattitudes. Using survey data for 76 countries, we find that ethnicidentity is a significant predictor of cultural values, yet that withingroupvariation in culture trumps between-group variation. Thus,in contrast to a commonly held view, ethnic and cultural diversityare unrelated. Although only a small portion of a country's overallcultural heterogeneity occurs between groups, we find that variouspolitical economy outcomes (such as civil conflict and public goodsprovision) worsen when there is greater overlap between ethnicityand culture.We gratefully acknowledge financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Economics and Competitiveness (grants ECO2011-27014, ECO2013-42710, and ECO2016- 75992-P), and the UCLA Anderson Center for Global Management. The authors declare that they have no relevant or material financial interests that relate to the research described in this pape