There is a growing interest within the development community to understand the role of broader socio-cultural factors in contributing development.
Culture, ethnic diversity and religious diversity are some important socio-cultural factors that have been shown to be correlated with a range of development policy variables. CID researchers have examined how some of these factors influence different development outcomes.
Lead: Sefa Awaworyi Churchill
Other researchers: Simon Feeny, Meg Elkins, Alberto Posso, Samuelson Appau
SDG alignment
Recent publications
- Appau, S., & Mabefam, M. G. (2020). Prosperity for the poor: religion, poverty and development in Sub-Saharan Africa. In Moving from the Millennium to the sustainable development goals (pp. 243-265). Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore
- Awaworyi Churchill, S., Elkins, M., and Feeny, S. (2020) “Ethnic Diversity and Progress Towards the Millennium Development Goals” in S Awaworyi Churchill (ed.), “Moving from the Millennium to the Sustainable Development Goals: Lessons and Recommendations”, Palgrave MacMillan: Singapore.
- Awaworyi Churchill, S. and Appau, S. (2020) “Microfinance in Latin America and the Caribbean: The Curse and Blessing of Ethnic Diversity” Applied Economics, vol 52, No. 16, pp. 1816-1830
- Awaworyi Churchill, S. Madhoo, Y., and Nath, S. (2020) “Ethnic Diversity and Human Capital Development in India: A disaggregated analysis at the state and district levels” Applied Economics, vol 52, No. 5, pp. 506-518
- Mabefam, M. G., & Appau, S. (2020). Witchcraft Accusations and the Social Exclusion of the Elderly in Northern Ghana: Understanding How Cultural Discourses and Practices Affect the Wellbeing of the Elderly. In Measuring, Understanding and Improving Wellbeing Among Older People (pp. 187-209). Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore.
- Awaworyi Churchill, S. (2019) “Firm financial performance in Sub-Saharan Africa: The role of ethnic diversity” Empirical Economics, vol 57, No. 3, pp. 957-970
- Awaworyi Churchill, S., Ivanovski, K. and Bhattacharya, M. (2019) “The role of ethnic diversity in sustainable environmental growth: New evidence across different income regions” Applied Economics, vol 51, No. 4, pp. 398-408
- Awaworyi Churchill, S., and Laryea, E. (2019) “Crime and Ethnic Diversity: Cross-country Evidence” Crime & Delinquency, vol 65, No. 2, pp. 239-269
- Awaworyi Churchill, S., Nuhu, S. and Lopez, K. (2019)“Persistence of Gender Inequality: The Role of Ethnic Divisions” Applied Economics, vol 51, No. 8, pp. 781-796
- Awaworyi Churchill, S. and Mishra, V. (2018) “The impact of ethnic diversity on microenterprise start-ups” Applied Economics, vol 50, pp. 4328-4342
- Awaworyi Churchill, S., and Smyth, R. (2017) “Ethnic Diversity and Poverty” World Development, vol 95, pp. 285-302
- Awaworyi Churchill, S. (2017) “Fractionalization, Entrepreneurship and the Institutional Environment for Entrepreneurship” Small Business Economics, vol 48, pp. 577-597 (doi:10.1007/s11187-016-9796-8)
- Awaworyi Churchill, S. (2017) “Microfinance and Ethnic Diversity” The Economic Record, vol 93, pp. 112-141
- Awaworyi Churchill, S., Valenzuela, R. and Sablah, W. (2017) “Ethnic Diversity and Firm Performance: Evidence from China’s materials and industrial sectors” Empirical Economics, vol 53, pp. 1711-1731 (
- Awaworyi Churchill, S., Okai, D. and Posso, A. (2016) “Internet Use and Ethnic Heterogeneity in a Cross-Section of Countries” Economic Papers: A journal of applied economics and policy, vol 35, pp. 59-72
Work in Progress
- Awaworyi-Churchill, S., and Danquah, M. (2020), Ethnic diversity and informal work
