Work

Poverty and Civil War: Revisiting the Evidence

Year: 2010

Type: article

Abstract: Previous research has interpreted the correlation between per capita income and civil war as evidence that poverty is a main determinant of conflict. In this paper, we find that the relationship between poverty and civil war is spurious and is accounted for by historical phenomena that jointly determine income evolution and conflict. In particular, the statistical association between poverty and civil wars disappears once we include country fixed effects. Also, using cross‐section data for 1960 to 2000, we find that once historical variables like European settler mortality rates and the population density in 1500 are included in civil war regressions, poverty does not have an effect on civil wars. These results are confirmed using longer time series from 1825 to 2000.

Source: The Review of Economics and Statistics

DOI: 10.1162/rest_a_00046

Authors: Simeon Djankov, Marta Reynal‐Querol

Institutions: Center for Economic and Policy Research, World Bank, Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Centre for Economic Policy Research

Language: English

Topic: Political Conflict and Governance

Subfield: Sociology and Political Science

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Peace, justice, and strong institutions, No poverty, Reduced inequalities

Open Access status: green

OpenAlex ID: W2047459800

FWCI: 22.9

Cites: 13

Cited by: 103

Related to: 10