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The causes of civil war

Author

Listed:
  • Djankov, Simeon
  • Reynal-Querol, Marta

Abstract

The dominant hypothesis in the literature that studies conflict is that poverty is the main cause of civil wars. The authors instead analyze the effect of institutions on civil war, controlling for income per capita. In their set up, institutions are endogenous and colonial origins affect civil wars through their legacy on institutions. Their results indicate that institutions, proxied by the protection of property rights, rule of law and the efficiency of the legal system, are a fundamental cause of civil war. In particular, an improvement in institutions from the median value in the sample to the 75th percentile is associated with a 38 percentage points'reduction in the incidence of civil wars. Moreover, once institutions are included as explaining civil wars, income does not have any effect on civil war, either directly or indirectly.

Suggested Citation

  • Djankov, Simeon & Reynal-Querol, Marta, 2007. "The causes of civil war," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4254, The World Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:4254
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Héctor Galindo Silva, 2007. "Polarización económica y emergencia de confilctos violentos internos un estudio empírico," Documentos de Economía 4449, Universidad Javeriana - Bogotá.
    2. Chandra Sriram & Marie-Joëlle Zahar, 2009. "The Perils of Power-Sharing: Africa and Beyond," Africa Spectrum, Institute of African Affairs, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies, Hamburg, vol. 44(3), pages 11-39.

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