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Borderline Disorder: (De facto) Historical Ethnic Borders and Contemporary Conflict in Africa

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  • Özak, Ömer

    (Southern Methodist University)

  • Depetris-Chauvin, Emilio

Abstract

We explore the effect of historical ethnic borders on contemporary non-civil conflict in Africa. Exploiting variations across artificial regions (i.e., grids of 50x50km) within an ethnicity's historical homeland, we document that both the intensive and extensive margins of contemporary conflict are concentrated close to historical ethnic borders. Following a theory-based instrumental variable approach, which generates a plausibly exogenous ethno-spatial partition of Africa, we find that grid cells with historical ethnic borders have 27 percentage points higher probability of conflict and 7.9 percentage points higher probability of being the initial location of a conflict. We uncover several key underlying mechanisms: competition for agricultural land, population pressure, cultural similarity and weak property rights.

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  • Özak, Ömer & Depetris-Chauvin, Emilio, 2020. "Borderline Disorder: (De facto) Historical Ethnic Borders and Contemporary Conflict in Africa," SocArXiv 375db, Center for Open Science.
    • Handle: RePEc:osf:socarx:375db
    DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/375db
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    3. Amodio, Francesco & Chiovelli, Giorgio & Munson, Dylan, 2022. "Pre-colonial ethnic institutions and party politics in Africa," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(4), pages 969-980.
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    5. Barba, Francisco M. & Jaimovich, Dany, 2022. "Ethnic diversity and forest commons," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D74 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Conflict; Conflict Resolution; Alliances; Revolutions
    • N57 - Economic History - - Agriculture, Natural Resources, Environment and Extractive Industries - - - Africa; Oceania
    • O13 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Agriculture; Natural Resources; Environment; Other Primary Products
    • O17 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Formal and Informal Sectors; Shadow Economy; Institutional Arrangements
    • O43 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Institutions and Growth
    • P48 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Other Economic Systems - - - Legal Institutions; Property Rights; Natural Resources; Energy; Environment; Regional Studies
    • Q15 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Land Ownership and Tenure; Land Reform; Land Use; Irrigation; Agriculture and Environment
    • Q34 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Nonrenewable Resources and Conservation - - - Natural Resources and Domestic and International Conflicts

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