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Rebel Recruitment in a Coffee Exporting Economy

Author

Listed:
  • Eleonora Nillesen

    (Development Economics Group, Wageningen University)

  • Philip Verwimp

    (Fund for Scientific Research (Flanders, Belgium), University of Antwerp)

Abstract

Recent literature in the political economy of civil war has pointed to the importance of (changes) in the economic environment for the understanding of conflict dynamics. Three channels, negative income shocks, the presence of exportable commodities and indiscriminate violence inflicted on one’s community are considered as drivers of conflict. This paper studies these channels with a new fifteen-year panel of community level data on Burundi whose coffee sector is intimately intertwined with the civil war. We find that indiscriminate violence inflicted at the start of the civil war (1993) continued to affect recruitment throughout the entire civil war. We also find that decreases in the producer price of coffee increases recruitment. Aiming to distinguish the resentment aspect from the opportunity aspect in low producer prices, we perform robustness tests with different specifications and with year-province rainfall shocks affecting overall agricultural income, not just coffee. Results indicate that it is the opportunity cost mechanism that drives increased recruitment.

Suggested Citation

  • Eleonora Nillesen & Philip Verwimp, 2009. "Rebel Recruitment in a Coffee Exporting Economy," Research Working Papers 11, MICROCON - A Micro Level Analysis of Violent Conflict.
    • Handle: RePEc:mcn:rwpapr:11
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    File URL: http://www.microconflict.eu/publications/RWP11_EN_PV.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2009
    Download Restriction: no
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Ibáñez, Ana María & Muñoz, Juan Carlos & Verwimp, Philip, 2013. "Abandoning Coffee under the Threat of Violence and the Presence of Illicit Crops. Evidence from Colombia," Documentos CEDE Series 161356, Universidad de Los Andes, Economics Department.
    2. Wegenast, Tim, 2010. "Inclusive Institutions and the Onset of Internal Conflict in Resource-rich Countries," GIGA Working Papers 126, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Civil war; recruitment; indiscriminate violence; coffee; rainfall;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models
    • N37 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - Africa; Oceania
    • N47 - Economic History - - Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation - - - Africa; Oceania

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