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Working Paper 171 - Youth Unemployment and Political Instability in Selected Developing Countries

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  • Therese F. Azeng
  • Thierry Yogo Urbain

Abstract

It has been suggested that large rate of youth unemployment makes countries more unstable in general, and thus more prone to armed conflict. The goal of this paper is to empirically determine the effects of youth unemployment on political instability. Using fixed-effects regression with instrumental variables on a sample covering 24 developing countries over the period 1980-2010, we find that youth unemployment is significantly associated with an increase of the risk of political instability. We suggest that exceptionally large youth unemployment rate, associated with socioeconomic inequalities and corruption, make countries more susceptible to political instability and national insecurity.

Suggested Citation

  • Therese F. Azeng & Thierry Yogo Urbain, 2013. "Working Paper 171 - Youth Unemployment and Political Instability in Selected Developing Countries," Working Paper Series 467, African Development Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:adb:adbwps:467
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    Cited by:

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    2. Harkat, Tahar & Driouchi, Ahmed & Achehboune, Amale, 2016. "Generational Gap and Youth in Arab countries," MPRA Paper 75834, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Samer Matta, 2017. "The Microeconomic Impact of Political Instability: Firm-Level Evidence from Tunisia," Working Papers 1135, Economic Research Forum, revised 09 Jul 2017.
    4. Sule, Abubakar* & Mohammed, I.D & Wada, Yahaya, 2022. "Interrogating the Level of Unemployment, Insecurity and Its Implication on Foreign Direct Investment in Nigeria: ARDL and Granger Causality Approach," Noble International Journal of Economics and Financial Research, Noble Academic Publsiher, vol. 7(1), pages 10-23, 03-2022.
    5. Jordi Ripollés & Inmaculada Martínez-Zarzoso, 2021. "African Asylum Seekers in Europe: The Interplay between Foreign Aid and Governance in Origin Countries," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 32(5), pages 829-865, November.
    6. Meagher, Kate, 2019. "Working in chains: African informal workers and global value chains," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 91590, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    7. Yeneayehu Fenetahun & Yuan You & Xinwen Xu & Vincent Nzabarinda & Yongdong Wang, 2021. "The Impact of Political Instability on Sustainable Rangeland Management: A Study of Borana Rangeland, Southern Ethiopia," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-16, April.
    8. Ijaz Uddin & Khalil Ur Rahman, 2023. "Impact of corruption, unemployment and inflation on economic growth evidence from developing countries," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 57(3), pages 2759-2779, June.
    9. Shoaib Imtiaz & Arshad Ali & Zeeshan Khan & Mohib Ullah & Muhammad Khan & Julija Jacquemod, 2020. "Determinants of Youth Unemployment in Pakistan," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 10(5), pages 171-177.
    10. Paasonen Kari, 2020. "Are the unhappy unemployed to blame for unrest? Scrutinising participation in the Arab Spring uprisings," Peace Economics, Peace Science, and Public Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 26(1), pages 1-21, February.
    11. Driouchi, Ahmed & Harkat, Tahar, 2017. "An Empirical Descriptive Analysis of the Factors underlying the Role of Younger Generations in Economic, Social & Political Changes in Arab Countries," MPRA Paper 77216, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Hollie Nyseth Nzitatira & Jared F Edgerton & Laura C Frizzell, 2023. "Analyzing Participation in the 1994 Genocide in Rwanda," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 60(2), pages 291-306, March.
    13. Kate Meagher, 2019. "Working in Chains: African Informal Workers and Global Value Chains," Agrarian South: Journal of Political Economy, Centre for Agrarian Research and Education for South, vol. 8(1-2), pages 64-92, April.
    14. Urbánné Mező, Júlia & Udvari, Beáta, 2016. "Munkapiaci rugalmasság és ifjúsági foglalkoztathatóság [Labour-market flexibility and youth employment]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(4), pages 431-460.
    15. World Bank Group, 2015. "Toward Solutions for Youth Employment," World Bank Publications - Reports 23261, The World Bank Group.
    16. Farzanegan, Mohammad Reza & Witthuhn, Stefan, 2017. "Corruption and political stability: Does the youth bulge matter?," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 47-70.

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