Abstract
Diversity is a key issue in the provision of critical publicly provided goods
such as clean drinking water and education. To develop institutions that
address this issue, it is critical that we understand the mechanisms through
which diversity and public goods are related. A simple model of public good
provision is developed to demonstrate that there are potentially measurable
differences between existing theories, particularly in the distribution of the
public good to minority groups. These differences are then illustrated with
respect to the distribution of drinking water, electricity and education across
18 countries of Sub-Saharan Africa. The results are consistent with ethnic diversity affecting the provision of all three public goods, but with the
mechanism behind the effect varying depending on the nature of the public
good.