Bazzi Publishes New Working Paper as Faculty Research Fellow of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

In 2018, Samuel Bazzi, a core faculty member of the Human Capital Initiative and Assistant Professor of Economics at Boston University, was selected to be a Faculty Research Fellow of the prestigious National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). His first working paper with NBER titled “The Political Boundaries of Ethnic Divisions” investigates the implications of policy decisions to reorder subnational boundaries in countries like Indonesia with diverse political and ethnic landscapes.

From the abstract of the paper:

This paper argues that redrawing subnational political boundaries can transform ethnic divisions. We use a natural policy experiment in Indonesia to show how the effects of ethnic diversity on conflict depend on the political units within which groups are organized. Redistricting along group lines can reduce conflict, but these gains are undone or even reversed when the new borders introduce greater polarization. These adverse effects of polarization are further amplified around majoritarian elections, consistent with strong incentives to capture new local governments in settings with ethnic favoritism. Overall, our findings illustrate the promise and pitfalls of redistricting in diverse countries.

Bazzi and Gudgeon, in contrast with other diversity and conflict literature, offer an optimistic view of redistricting as a more feasible policy option for managing interethnic tensions. The authors also provide future direction and reframing of the current political strategies to avoid many of the pitfalls discussed in their research. Although, they stress that additional research is needed to assess effects of redistricting beyond changes in ethnic divisions.

Bazzi and Gudgeon also co-authored the article, titled “Managing ethnic divisions in diverse societies: Evidence from redrawing political boundaries,” in April 2018 in the Institutions and Political Economy section of VoxDev. The article discussed the various implications of local government proliferation in Indonesia as it relates to ethnic divisions.

Samuel Bazzi is an Assistant Professor of Economics at Boston University and Core Faculty at the Human Capital Initiative at the Global Development Policy Center. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of California, San Diego.