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Humanitarian Relief and Civil Conflict

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  • Max Blouin
  • Stéphane Pallage

Abstract

We examine the effects of famine relief efforts (food aid) in regions undergoing civil war. In our model, warlords seize a fraction of all aid entering the region. How much they loot affects their choice of army size; therefore the manner in which aid is delivered influences warfare. We identify a delivery plan for aid which minimizes total recruitment in equilibrium.

Suggested Citation

  • Max Blouin & Stéphane Pallage, 2007. "Humanitarian Relief and Civil Conflict," Cahiers de recherche 0706, CIRPEE.
    • Handle: RePEc:lvl:lacicr:0706
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jean-Paul Azam, 2002. "Looting and Conflict between Ethnoregional Groups," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 46(1), pages 131-153, February.
    2. Sanjeev Gupta & Benedict Clements & Erwin R. Tiongson, 2004. "Foreign Aid and Consumption Smoothing: Evidence from Global Food Aid," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 8(3), pages 379-390, August.
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    6. Blouin, Max & Pallage, Stéphane, 2009. "Addressing the food aid curse," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 104(1), pages 49-51, July.
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    11. Gershenson, Dmitriy, 2002. "Sanctions and Civil Conflict," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 69(274), pages 185-206, May.
    12. Barrett, Christopher B & Mohapatra, Sandeep & Snyder, Donald L, 1999. "The Dynamic Effects of U.S. Food Aid," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 37(4), pages 647-656, October.
    13. Abdulai, Awudu & Barrett, Christopher B. & Hoddinott, John, 2005. "Does food aid Really have disincentive effects? New evidence from sub-Saharan Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 33(10), pages 1689-1704, October.
    14. Kevin Siqueira, 2003. "Conflict and third-party intervention," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(6), pages 389-400.
    15. Hagen, Rune Jansen, 2006. "Samaritan agents? On the strategic delegation of aid policy," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(1), pages 249-263, February.
    16. Garfinkel, Michelle R. & Skaperdas, Stergios, 2007. "Economics of Conflict: An Overview," Handbook of Defense Economics, in: Keith Hartley & Todd Sandler (ed.), Handbook of Defense Economics, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 22, pages 649-709, Elsevier.
    17. William Easterly, 2003. "Can Foreign Aid Buy Growth?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 17(3), pages 23-48, Summer.
    18. Isenman, Paul J & Singer, H W, 1977. "Food Aid: Distinctive Effects and Their Policy Implications," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 25(2), pages 205-237, January.
    19. Karl Pedersen, 2001. "The Samaritan's Dilemma and the Effectiveness of Development Aid," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 8(5), pages 693-703, November.
    20. Chang, Yang-Ming & Potter, Joel & Sanders, Shane, 2007. "War and peace: Third-party intervention in conflict," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 23(4), pages 954-974, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Blouin, Max & Pallage, Stéphane, 2009. "Addressing the food aid curse," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 104(1), pages 49-51, July.
    2. Stefano Dughera & Alain Marciano, 2022. "Altruism and Strategic Courage. Inside Buchanan's Samaritan's Dilemma," Working Papers hal-03684249, HAL.
    3. Alain Marciano, 2014. "Exploitation, Mutual Advantage and The Myth of the Samaritan's Dilemma," ICER Working Papers 10-2014, ICER - International Centre for Economic Research.
    4. Blouin, Max & Pallage, Stéphane, 2016. "Warlords, famine and food aid: Who fights, who starves?," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 18-38.
    5. Jeong, Ho Young & Yu, David J. & Min, Byung-Cheol & Lee, Seokcheon, 2020. "The humanitarian flying warehouse," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    6. Stefano Dughera & Alain Marciano, 2023. "Inside Buchanan's Samaritan's Dilemma: altruism, strategic courage and ethics of responsibility," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 24(2), pages 207-233, June.
    7. repec:elg:eechap:15325_15 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Kyosuke Kikuta, 2019. "Postdisaster Reconstruction as a Cause of Intrastate Violence: An Instrumental Variable Analysis with Application to the 2004 Tsunami in Sri Lanka," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 63(3), pages 760-785, March.
    9. Hoddinott, John & Margolies, Amy, 2012. "Mapping the Impacts of Food Aid: Current Knowledge and Future Directions," WIDER Working Paper Series 034, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    10. repec:unu:wpaper:wp2012-34 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Jessica Maves Braithwaite & Amanda Abigail Licht, 2020. "The Effect of Civil Society Organizations and Democratization Aid on Civil War Onset," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 64(6), pages 1095-1120, July.
    12. Amy Margolies & John Hoddinott, 2012. "Mapping the Impacts of Food Aid: Current Knowledge and Future Directions," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2012-034, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    13. Max Blouin, 2018. "Peacekeeping: A strategic approach," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 51(1), pages 41-63, February.
    14. Findley, Michael G. & Powell, Josh & Strandow, Daniel & Tanner, Jeff, 2011. "The Localized Geography of Foreign Aid: A New Dataset and Application to Violent Armed Conflict," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(11), pages 1995-2009.
    15. Stijn van Weezel, 2017. "Mostly Harmless? A Subnational Analysis of the Aid-Conflict Nexus," Working Papers 201728, School of Economics, University College Dublin.
    16. Hagen, Rune Jansen, 2014. "Rents and the Political Economy of Development Aid," Working Papers in Economics 07/14, University of Bergen, Department of Economics.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Humanitarian aid; food aid; civil war; warlords; famine;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O10 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - General
    • F35 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - Foreign Aid
    • D74 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Conflict; Conflict Resolution; Alliances; Revolutions

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