Abstract
We study the labor market consequences of ethnic politics in African democracies. Using subnational georeferenced data from 15 countries from 1996 to 2017, we compare individuals from ethnicities linked to parties at the margin of electing a representative in the national parliament. Having a local ethnic party politician in parliament increases the likelihood of being employed by 2–3 percentage points. The effect is concentrated in the agricultural sector and mostly driven by self-employment, suggesting increased access to land as the main channel. We also show that religion and age are salient markers in African politics that trigger similar employment effects. (JEL D72, J15, J23, J43, O15, O17, Z12)
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