TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Kok, Chun Chee
AU  - Lim, Gedeon
AU  - Shariat, Danial
AU  - Siddique, Abu
AU  - Tsuda, Shunsuke
        TI  - Interethnic Proximity and Political Development
        PY  - 2025/Mar/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 17776
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/publications/dp17776
        AB  - We exploit a population resettlement program of ethnic minorities in Malaysia to identify long-run effects of interethnic proximity on economic and political development. From 1948 to 1951, the colonial government moved 500,000 rural Chinese into hundreds of isolated, mono-ethnic camps. In ethnic majority Malay communities adjacent to these camps, we find greater economic prosperity and lower vote shares for the ethno-nationalist Malay party. Effects are stronger in areas with historical, interethnic economic complementarities. Primary survey data suggests that trust-building and social integration were key channels. Our findings highlight the importance of persistent, localized contact in the co-evolution of economic and political development.
        KW  - Malaysia
KW  - development
KW  - political preference
KW  - ethnicity
KW  - Chinese
        ER  -