Research

Working Papers:

Job Market Paper : "Extractive Institutions, the Reversal of Fortune and the Historical Roots of Racism" . Bonick and Farfán-Vallespín
We show that differences in present levels of racism within a sample of former European colonies can be traced back to historical institutions. Our identification strategy relies on the reversal of fortune, a historical shock capturing the exogenous establishment of different institutions during the onset of European colonization. Using both OLS and multilevel analysis, we find extractive historical institutions to be a strong predictor of higher levels of racism independent of present and other explanatory factors at the individual and country levels. We argue and provide evidence this relationship is causal and operates through persistent internal norms, beliefs and values, resilient to changes in institutional and economic circumstances.
"On Origins and Consequences of Racism". Bonick and Farfán-Vallespín . Bonick and Farfán-Vallespín
Using a novel method to measure racism at the individual and country level, we show, our measure of racism has a strong negative and significant impact on economic development, quality of institutions, education and social capital. We test different hypotheses concerning the origin of racism and its channels of impact to establish causality. We find racism is not correlated with measures for the coexistence of different racial or ethnic groups or ethnically-motivated conflicts. Importantly, we show, for former colonies, racism is strongly correlated with the presence of extractive institutions during colonial times, even after controlling for current institutions, GDP per capita and education. We argue, extractive colonial institutions not only had a negative impact on the political and economic institutions but also shaped the cultural values of the population. We claim colonial powers instilled racism among the population of their colonies in order to weaken their ability for collective action.

Work in Progress:

“Trust and Racism in the West”. Bonick (Draft Coming Soon)
I study the impact of racism on trust predominately in European and Neo-European countries. To operationalize trust and racism, I use individual level responses from European Social Survey, World Value Survey, European Value Survey and General Social Survey. The results of a multivariate analysis indicate, for all measures of racism across each survey, individuals who possess a self-reported racist attitude or belief are less likely to be trusting. To address the issue of causality, I examine second and later generation immigrants within the European Social Survey, General Social Survey and European Value Survey. When examining immigrants and using the level of racism of their ancestral country as a proxy for individual racial attitudes, I find racism continues to predict lower levels of trust. These results provide evidence racism has a negative, significant and causal impact on trust. Overall, the paper provides empirical support for the notion that racism has a negative economic impact through the erosion of social capital.
"Egalitarian Institutions, Cultural Norms and Economic Gender Inequality" Bennett and Bonick (Draft Coming Soon)
We argue that the degree to which a country’s economic and legal institutions treat men and women equally influences economic gender inequality. Specifically, we contend that countries with more egalitarian institutions are likely to produce more equal economic outcomes between men and women, while countries with less egalitarian institutions are likely to generate more gender inequality. Using the female civil liberties index from the V-Dem data-set, we provide evidence that egalitarian institutions are positively associated with several measures of economic gender equality from the Global Gender Gap Index for sample of more than 100 countries. We argue that the historical suitability of the environment for agricultural production is an exogenous source of variation in egalitarian institutions and show using the 2SLS estimator that egalitarian institutions are a robust causal predictor of gender equality. We also provide supporting micro-level evidence that historically established institutions have a long lasting impact on cultural norms, which may in turn influence gender inequality, by considering the influence of ancestral institutions on individual beliefs about the proper role of women in the economy among second-generation immigrants, as well as their individual labor market participation decisions.

“Basic Income and Gender Preferences Towards Competition”. Bonick, Solovev and others

“Racism and Democratic Values”. Bonick .

Contact Information;
Email: matthewbonick@yahoo.com
Phone : +49 17686806831
Website: Link
Address:
University of Freiburg Department of Economic Policy and Constitutional Economic Theory
Kollegiengebäude IIPlatz der Alten Synagoge, Freiburg, Germany, 79085

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