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Is tolerance good or bad for growth?

Public Choice volume 150, pages 283–308 (2012)Cite this article

A Commentary to to this article was published on 19 October 2012

Abstract

We investigate how tolerance, as measured by attitudes toward different types of neighbors, affects economic growth in a sample of 54 countries. Unlike previous studies, by Richard Florida and others, we find that tolerance toward homosexuals is negatively related to growth. For tolerance toward people of a different race, we do not find robust results, but the sign of the estimated coefficients is positive, suggesting that inclusion of people irrespective of race makes good use of productive capacity. We propose mechanisms to explain these divergent findings, which clarify why different kinds of tolerance may be of different economic importance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Ratio Institute, P.O. Box 3203, 103 64, Stockholm, Sweden

    Niclas Berggren

  2. The Ratio Institute, Stockholm, Sweden

    Mikael Elinder

  3. The Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN), Stockholm, Sweden

    Mikael Elinder

  4. Uppsala Center for Fiscal Studies, Department of Economics, Uppsala University, P.O. Box 513, 751 20, Uppsala, Sweden

    Mikael Elinder

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  1. Niclas Berggren
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  2. Mikael Elinder
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Correspondence to Niclas Berggren.

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Berggren, N., Elinder, M. Is tolerance good or bad for growth?. Public Choice 150, 283–308 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11127-010-9702-x

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Keywords

  • Tolerance
  • Growth
  • Diversity
  • Human capital
  • Creativity
  • Innovation

JEL Classification

  • O40
  • Z13