Victoire Girard

 

Abstract: We document a new channel of the natural resource curse: the malleability of ethnic group identities to resources exploitation. We combine individual data on the strength of ethnic group identities with geo-localized information on the contours of ethnic homelands and on the time and place of mineral resources exploitation in up to 25 African countries surveyed by the Afrobarometer from 2005 to 2015. Our strategy exploits different dimensions of exposure to resources exploitation: time, spatial proximity, and ethnic proximity. We show that the strength of an ethnic group identity increases – relative to a national identity – during the exploitation of mineral resources in the homeland of that group. This result holds independently of the impact of resources on local economic conditions and conflicts. We then turn to the potential channels explaining this increase in ethnic identification, by estimating the effect of resources exploitation in the ethnic homeland of an individual on that individual’s perceptions of relative deprivation, economic conditions and trust in institutions. Mineral resources exploitation fosters feelings of economic deprivation, despite having a marginally positive impact on real economic conditions. However this deprivation effect appears to be concentrated among groups without access to the national political power. Access to power offsets the deprivation channel, members of powerful groups display no relation between resources and identity.