Knowledge Bank

The paper examines the impact of cultural diversity on the economic growth in China. Based on provincial data of 29 Chinese provinces from 2000 to 2010, I find that ethnic diversity has negative impact on total output and linguistic diversity reduces economic growth. These effects are hypothesized to come from corruptions, conflicts between groups and higher communication costs. I conclude that publicizing cultures of different ethnic groups and popularizing the standard spoken Chinese would enhance economic performance and promote economic growth.