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From vice to virtue? Civil war and social capital in Uganda

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  • Giacomo De Luca
  • Marijke Verpoorten

Abstract

We show that armed conflict affects social capital as measured by trust and associational membership. Using the case of Uganda and two rounds of nationally representative individual-level data bracketing a large number of battle events, we find that self-reported generalized trust and associational membership decreased during the conflict in districts in which battle events took place. Exploiting the different timing of two distinct waves of violence, we provide suggestive evidence for a rapid recovery of social capital. Evidence from a variety of identification strategies, including difference-in-difference and instrumental variavle estimates, suggest that these relationships are causal.

Suggested Citation

  • Giacomo De Luca & Marijke Verpoorten, 2011. "From vice to virtue? Civil war and social capital in Uganda," LICOS Discussion Papers 29811, LICOS - Centre for Institutions and Economic Performance, KU Leuven.
    • Handle: RePEc:lic:licosd:29811
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Calvo, Thomas & Lavallée, Emmanuelle & Razafindrakoto, Mireille & Roubaud, François, 2020. "Fear Not For Man? Armed conflict and social capital in Mali," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(2), pages 251-276.
    2. infocede, 2014. "Local Institutions and Armed Group Presence in Colombia," Documentos CEDE 20112, Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía, CEDE.
    3. Dominic Rohner & Mathias Thoenig & Fabrizio Zilibotti, 2013. "Seeds of distrust: conflict in Uganda," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 217-252, September.
    4. Tilman Brück & Patricia Justino & Philip Verwimp & Alexandra Avdeenko & Andrew Tedesco, 2016. "Measuring Violent Conflict in Micro-level Surveys: Current Practices and Methodological Challenges," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 31(1), pages 29-58.
    5. Merle Kreibaum, 2014. "Their Suffering, Our Burden? How Congolese Refugees Affect the Ugandan Population," HiCN Working Papers 181, Households in Conflict Network.
    6. Tilman Br�ck & Patricia Justino & Philip Verwimp & Andrew Tedesco & Alexandra Avdeenko, 2013. "Measuring Conflict Exposure in Micro-Level Surveys," HiCN Working Papers 153, Households in Conflict Network.
    7. Patricia Justino, 2012. "Shared Societies and Armed Conflict: Costs, Inequality and the Benefits of Peace," HiCN Working Papers 125, Households in Conflict Network.
    8. Patricia Justino & Ivan Cardona & Rebecca Mitchell & Catherine M�ller, 2012. "Quantifying the Impact of Women�s Participation in Post-Conflict Economic Recovery," HiCN Working Papers 131, Households in Conflict Network.
    9. Max Schaub, 2014. "Solidarity with a sharp edge: Communal conflict and local collective action in rural Nigeria," HiCN Working Papers 183, Households in Conflict Network.
    10. Aghajanian, Alia Jane, 2016. "Social capital and conflict: impact and implications," Economics PhD Theses 0116, Department of Economics, University of Sussex Business School.
    11. Muhsin Ali & Karim Khan, 2023. "Violent Conflict and Informal Institutions: Evidence from a Civil Conflict in Pakistan (Article)," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 62(2), pages 235-264.
    12. Margarita G�faro & Ana Maria Ib��ez & Patricia Justino, 2014. "Local Institutions and Armed Group Presence in Colombia," HiCN Working Papers 178, Households in Conflict Network.
    13. Margarita Gáfaro & Ana Maria Ibáñez & Patricia Justino, 2014. "Collective Action and Armed Group Presence in Colombia," Documentos CEDE 11951, Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía, CEDE.
    14. Achyuta Adhvaryu & James Fenske, 2014. "Conflict and the Formation of Political Beliefs in Africa," HiCN Working Papers 164, Households in Conflict Network.

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