Abstract
We investigate how tolerance, as measured by attitudes toward different types of neighbors, affects economic growth in a sample of 54 countries. Unlike previous studies, by Richard Florida and others, we find that tolerance toward homosexuals is negatively related to growth. For tolerance toward people of a different race, we do not find robust results, but the sign of the estimated coefficients is positive, suggesting that inclusion of people irrespective of race makes good use of productive capacity. We propose mechanisms to explain these divergent findings, which clarify why different kinds of tolerance may be of different economic importance.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Acemoglu, D., Johnson, S., & Robinson, J. A. (2005). Institutions as a fundamental cause of long-run growth. In P. Aghion & S. N. Durlauf (Eds.), Handbook of economic growth (Vol. 1A, pp. 385–472). Amsterdam: Elsevier.
Aghion, P., Caroli, E., & García-Peñalosa, C. (1999). Inequality and economic growth: the perspectives of the new growth theories. Journal of Economic Literature, 37(4), 1615–1660.
Ahmed, A., & Hammarstedt, M. (2010). Sexual orientation and earnings: a register-data approach to identify homosexuals. Journal of Population Economics, 23(3), 835–849.
Andersen, R., & Fetner, T. (2008). Economic inequality and intolerance: attitudes toward homosexuality in 35 democracies. American Journal of Political Science, 52(4), 942–958.
Antecol, H., Jong, A., & Steinberger, M. (2008). The sexual orientation wage gap: the role of occupational sorting and human capital. Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 61(4), 518–543.
Aron, J. (2000). Growth and institutions: a review of the evidence. The World Bank Research Observer, 15(1), 99–135.
Barro, R. J. (1991). Economic growth in a cross-section of countries. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 106(2), 407–443.
Barro, R. J. (1996). Democracy and growth. Journal of Economic Growth, 1(1), 1–27.
Barro, R. J. (2000). Inequality and growth in a panel of countries. Journal of Economic Growth, 5(1), 5–32.
Barro, R. J., & Lee, J.-W. (2010). A new data set of educational attainment in the world, 1950–2010. NBER Working Paper No. 15902. Cambridge: National Bureau of Economic Research.
Barron, J. M., Struckman-Johnson, C., Quevillon, R., & Banka, S. R. (2008). Heterosexual men’s attitudes toward gay men: a hierarchical model including masculinity, openness, and theoretical explanations. Psychology of Men & Masculinity, 9(3), 154–166.
Basuchoudhary, A., & Shughart II, W. F. (2010). On ethnic conflict and the origins of transnational terrorism. Defence and Peace Economics, 21(1), 65–87.
Becker, G. S. (1971). The economics of discrimination. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Berggren, N., & Jordahl, H. (2005). Does free trade really reduce growth? Further testing using the economic freedom index. Public Choice, 122(1–2), 99–114.
Berggren, N., Elinder, M., & Jordahl, H. (2008). Trust and growth: a shaky relationship. Empirical Economics, 35(2), 251–274.
Bergh, A., & Karlsson, M. (2010). Government size and growth: accounting for economic freedom and globalization. Public Choice, 142(1–2), 195–213.
Beugelsdijk, S., de Grooty, H. L. F., & van Schaikz, A. B. T. M. (2004). Trust and economic growth: a robustness analysis. Oxford Economic Papers, 56(1), 118–134.
Bjørnskov, C. (2008). The growth–inequality association: government ideology matters. Journal of Development Economics, 87(2), 300–308.
Black, D. A., Sanders, S. G., & Taylor, L. J. (2007). The economics of lesbian and gay families. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 21(2), 53–70.
Boschma, R. A., & Fritsch, M. (2007). Creative class and regional growth: empirical evidence from eight European countries. Jena Economic Research Paper No. 66. Jena: Friedrich Schiller University and Max Planck Institute.
Bosworth, B. P., & Collins, S. M. (2003). The empirics of growth: an update. Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, 34(2), 113–206.
Buchanan, J. M., & Congleton, R. D. (1997). Politics by principle, not interest: toward nondiscriminatory democracy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Buchanan, J. M., & Tullock, G. (1962). The calculus of consent: logical foundations of constitutional democracy. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Butklewicz, J. L., & Yanikkaya, H. (2006). Institutional quality and economic growth: maintenance of the rule of law or democratic institutions, or both? Economic Modelling, 23(4), 648–661.
Charles, K. K., & Guryan, J. (2008). Prejudice and wages: an empirical assessment of Becker’s The economics of discrimination. Journal of Political Economy, 116(5), 773–809.
Corneo, G., & Jeanne, O. (2009). A theory of tolerance. Journal of Public Economics, 93(5–6), 691–702.
Dincer, O. C., & Uslaner, E. M. (2010). Trust and growth. Public Choice, 142(1–2), 59–67.
Doucouliagos, C., & Ulubasoglu, M. A. (2006). Economic freedom and economic growth: does specification make a difference? European Journal of Political Economy, 22(1), 60–81.
Doucouliagos, H., & Ulubasoglu, M. A. (2009). Democracy and economic growth: a meta-analysis. American Journal of Political Science, 57(1), 61–83.
Egan, P. J., Edelman, M. S., & Sherrill, K. (2009). Findings from the Hunter College poll: new discoveries about the political attitudes of lesbians, gays and bisexuals. Unpublished manuscript. New York: Hunter College.
Ekehammar, B., & Akrami, N. (2003). The relation between personality and prejudice: a variable- and a person-centred approach. European Journal of Personality, 17(5), 449–464.
Embrick, D. G., Walther, C. S., & Wickens, C. M. (2007). Working class masculinity: keeping gay men and lesbians out of the workplace. Sex Roles, 56(11–12), 757–766.
Finkel, S. E. (1995). Causal analysis with panel data. Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Florida, R. (2002a). The rise of the creative class: and how it’s transforming work, leisure, community and everyday life. New York: Basic Books.
Florida, R. (2002b). Bohemia and economic geography. Journal of Economic Geography, 2(1), 5571.
Florida, R. (2003). Cities and the creative class. City & Community, 2(1), 319.
Florida, R. (2004). Revenge of the squelchers. The Next American City, 5. http://creativeclass.com/rfcgdb/articles/Revenge_of_the_Squelchers_long%20report.pdf. Accessed 20 February 2009.
Florida, R., & Gates, G. (2001). Technology and tolerance: the importance of diversity to high-technology growth. Washington: The Brookings Institution.
Florida, R., & Mellander, C. (2010). There goes the metro: how and why bohemians, artists and gays affect regional housing values. Journal of Economic Geography, 10(2), 167–188.
Florida, R., Mellander, C., & Qian, H. (2008a). Creative China? The university, tolerance, talent in Chinese regional development. Working Paper No. 145. Stockholm: CESIS, Royal Institute of Technology.
Florida, R., Mellander, C., & Stolarick, K. (2008b). Inside the black box of regional development—human capital, the creative class and tolerance. Journal of Economic Geography, 8(5), 615–649.
Friedman, B. M. (2005). The moral consequences of economic growth. New York: Knopf.
Glaeser, E. L. (2005). Review of Richard Florida’s The rise of the creative class. Regional Science and Urban Economics, 35(5), 593–596.
Glaeser, E. L., & Saiz, A. (2004). The rise of the skilled city. Brookings-Wharton Papers on Urban Affairs, 5, 47–94.
Glaeser, E. L., Scheinkman, J. A., & Shleifer, A. (1995). Economic growth in a cross-section of cities. Journal of Monetary Economics, 36(1), 117–143.
Glaeser, E. L., La Porta, R., Lopez-de-Silanes, F., & Shleifer, A. (2004). Do institutions cause growth? Journal of Economic Growth, 9(2), 271–303.
Granovetter, M. (1983). The strength of weak ties: a network theory revisited. Sociological Theory, 1, 201–233.
Grell, O. P., & Porter, R. (Eds.) (2000). Toleration in enlightenment Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Gustavsson, M., & Jordahl, H. (2008). Inequality and trust in Sweden: some inequalities are more harmful than others. Journal of Public Economics, 92(1–2), 348–365.
Gwartney, J. D., & Lawson, R. A. (2008). Economic freedom of the world. Vancouver: The Fraser Institute.
Hanushek, E. A., & Woessman, L. (2009). Do better schools lead to more economic growth? Cognitive skills, economic outcomes, and causation. NBER Working Paper No. 14633. Cambridge: National Bureau of Economic Research.
Herek, G. M. (2000). The psychology of sexual prejudice. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 9(1), 19–22.
Heston, A., Summers, R., & Aten, B. (2009). Penn world table version 6.3. Philadelphia: Center for International Comparisons of Production, Income and Prices, University of Pennsylvania.
Hsiao, C. (2007). Panel data analysis—advantages and challenges. TEST, 16(1), 1–22.
Hubert, M., Rousseeuw, P. J., & Van Aelst, S. (2004). Robustness. In B. Sundt & J. Teugels (Eds.), Encyclopedia of actuarial sciences (pp. 1515–1529). New York: Wiley.
Inglehart, R., & Abramson, P. R. (1999). Measuring postmaterialism. American Political Science Review, 93(3), 665–677.
Inglehart, R., & Welzel, C. (2005). Modernization, cultural change and democracy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Inglehart, R., Basañez, M., Diez-Medrano, J., Halman, L., & Luijkx, R. (2004). Human beliefs and values: a crosscultural sourcebook based on the 1999–2002 values surveys. Mexico: Siglo XXI Editores.
Israel, J. (1995). The Dutch republic: its rise, greatness and fall 1477–1806. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Knack, S., & Keefer, P. (1995). Institutions and economic performance: cross-country tests using alternative institutional measures. Economics and Politics, 7(3), 207–227.
Knowles, S. (2005). Inequality and economic growth: the empirical relationship reconsidered in the light of comparable data. Journal of Development Economics, 41(1), 135–159.
Levine, R., & Renelt, D. (1992). A sensitivity analysis of cross-country growth regressions. American Economic Review, 82(4), 942–963.
Mankiw, N. G., Romer, D., & Weil, D. N. (1992). A contribution to the empirics of economic growth. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 107(2), 407–437.
Marlet, G., & van Woerkens, C. (2005). Tolerance, aesthetics, amenities or jobs? Dutch city attraction to the creative class. Discussion Paper No. 33. Utrecht, the Netherlands: Tjalling C. Koopmans Research Institute, Utrecht School of Economics, University of Utrecht.
Marlet, G., & van Woerkens, C. (2007). The Dutch creative class and how it fosters urban employment growth. Urban Studies, 44(13), 2605–2626.
McGranahan, D. A., & Wojan, T. R. (2007). Recasting the creative class to examine growth processes in rural and urban counties. Regional Studies, 41(2), 197–216.
Mellander, C., & Florida, R. (2007). The creative class or human capital? Explaining regional development in Sweden. Working Paper No. 79. Stockholm: CESIS, Royal Institute of Technology.
Mokyr, J. (1990). The lever of riches: technological creativity and economic progress. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
North, D. C. (1990). Institutions, institutional change, and economic performance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Nyström, K. (2009). Is entrepreneurship the salvation for enhanced economic growth? In M. V. Bradshaw & P. T. Carrington (Eds.), Entrepreneurship and its economic significance, behavior and effects. New York: Nova Science Publishers.
Ottaviano, G. I. P., & Peri, G. (2006). The economic value of cultural diversity: evidence from U.S. cities. Journal of Economic Geography, 6(1), 9–44.
Page, S. E. (2007). The difference: how the power of diversity creates better groups, firms, schools, and societies. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Plug, E., & Berkhout, P. (2008). Sexual orientation, disclosure and earnings. IZA Discussion Paper No. 3290. Bonn: IZA.
Ríos-Figueroa, J., & Staton, J. (2008). Unpacking the rule of law: a review of judicial independence measures. Committee of Concepts and Methods Working Paper No. 21. Mexico City: International Political Science Association.
Rodrik, D., Subramanian, A., & Trebbi, F. (2004). Institutions rule: the primacy of institutions over geography and integration in economic development. Journal of Economic Growth, 9(2), 131–165.
Romer, P. M. (1986). Increasing returns and long-run growth. Journal of Political Economy, 90(5), 1002–1037.
Romer, P. M. (1990). Endogenous technical change. Journal of Political Economy, 98(5), S71–S102.
Ross, M. W. (1989). Married homosexual men: prevalence and background. Marrriage & Family Review, 14(3–4), 35–57.
Rousseeuw, P. J. (1984). Least median of squares regression. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 79(388), 871–880.
Rousseeuw, P. J., & Leroy, A. M. (1987). Robust regression and outlier detection. New York: Wiley.
Rousseeuw, P. J., & Van Driessen, K. (2006). Computing LTS regression for large data sets. Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery, 12(1), 29–45.
Sala-í-Martin, X. (1997). I just ran two million regressions. American Economic Review, 87(2), 178–183.
Shapiro, J. M. (2006). Smart cities: quality of life, productivity, and the growth effects of human capital. The Review of Economics and Statistics, 88(2), 324–335.
Sternberg, R. J. (Ed.) (1999). Handbook of creativity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Stratton, L. S. (2007). Examining the wage differential between married and cohabiting men. Economic Inquiry, 40(2), 199–212.
Sturm, J.-E., & de Haan, J. (2005). Determinants of long-term growth: new results applying robust estimation and extreme bounds analysis? Empirical Economics, 30(3), 597–617.
Temple, J. (1999). The new growth evidence. Journal of Economic Literature, 37(1), 112–156.
Verboven, S., & Hubert, M. (2005). LIBRA: a MATLAB library for robust analysis. Chemometrics and Intelligent Laboratory Systems, 75(2), 127–136.
Zak, P. J., & Knack, S. (2001). Trust and growth. Economic Journal, 111(470), 295–321.
Zaman, A., Rousseeuw, P. J., & Orhan, M. (2001). Econometric applications of high-breakdown robust regression techniques. Economics Letters, 71(1), 1–8.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Berggren, N., Elinder, M. Is tolerance good or bad for growth?. Public Choice 150, 283–308 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11127-010-9702-x
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11127-010-9702-x