Who gets public goods? Effects of ethnic diversity and exclusion on urban and rural populations' access to water and sanitation

Abstract

Why do some countries provide better access to life-saving public goods than others? An enduring explanation from the political economy literature points to ethnic heterogeneity in impeding public goods provision. However, previous studies have not examined how the “diversity deficit” directly affects access to improved water and sanitation, a leading cause of continued under-5 mortality globally, and how this effect varies for urban versus rural communities. Using cross-sectional time series analysis of 149 low and middle-income countries between 1990 and 2013, this study explores the relationship between national ethnic diversity and ethnic-based political exclusion, and rural and urban populations’ access to water and sanitation. We find that ethnic diversity rather than ethnic exclusion predicts lower access to water and sanitation, although more so for rural populations, and that this relationship may be the most pronounced in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. This suggests that the negative impact of diversity rooted in coordination problems may be rooted at the national level for goods that require both long-term investment and ongoing resources. Our findings provide a more nuanced understanding of how national-level ethnic diversity can exert divergent effects on the provision of public goods to rural versus urban populations, while also highlighting regional variation.