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The Geography of Inter-State Resource Wars

Author

Listed:
  • Francesco Caselli

    (London School of Economics)

Abstract

We establish a theoretical as well as empirical framework to assess the role of geography for inter-State conflict. The theory shows that two related sources of asymmetry are important triggers of war motivations: if in a pair of neighboring countries only one of them has natural resources, and these resources are close to the bilateral border, the likelihood of war incentives can be higher than when resources are present on both sides of the border; moreover, when both countries have natural resources, again the probability of war increases in the asymmetry in terms of distance from the common border. The empirical analysis confirms that these two types of asymmetry, in terms of presence and/or distance, are significant in the explanation of inter-State wars after WW2.

Suggested Citation

  • Francesco Caselli, 2012. "The Geography of Inter-State Resource Wars," 2012 Meeting Papers 1174, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    • Handle: RePEc:red:sed012:1174
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    Cited by:

    1. Enrico Spolaore & Romain Wacziarg, 2016. "War and Relatedness," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 98(5), pages 925-939, December.
    2. Jackson, Matthew O. & Nei, Stephen, 2014. "Networks of Military Alliances, Wars, and International Trade," Climate Change and Sustainable Development 172702, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM).
    3. van der Ploeg, Frederick, 2018. "Political economy of dynamic resource wars," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 765-782.
    4. Frederick van der Ploeg, 2017. "Rapacious Oil Exploration in face of Regime Switches: Breakthrough Renewable Energy and Dynamic Resource Wars," Development Working Papers 415, Centro Studi Luca d'Agliano, University of Milano.
    5. Stefano Della Vigna & Ruben Enikolopov & Vera Mironova & Maria Petrova & Ekaterina Zhuravskaya, 2014. "Cross-Border Media and Nationalism: Evidence from Serbian Radio in Croatia," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 6(3), pages 103-132, July.
    6. Lei, Yu-Hsiang & Michaels, Guy, 2014. "Do giant oilfield discoveries fuel internal armed conflicts?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 139-157.
    7. Francesco Caselli & Andrea Tesei, 2016. "Resource Windfalls, Political Regimes, and Political Stability," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 98(3), pages 573-590, July.
    8. Melisa Janet Luc, 2015. "Recursos naturales y delimitación de fronteras en América Latina en la primera globalización: una aproximación desde la Guerra del Acre," Tiempo y Economía, Universidad de Bogotá Jorge Tadeo Lozano, vol. 2(1), pages 69-88.
    9. Nicolas Berman & Mathieu Couttenier & Dominic Rohner & Mathias Thoenig, 2017. "This Mine Is Mine! How Minerals Fuel Conflicts in Africa," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(6), pages 1564-1610, June.
    10. Renzo Castellares & Morgane Fouché, 2017. "The Determinants of Social Conflicts in Mining Production Areas," Working Papers 100, Peruvian Economic Association.
    11. Morelli, Massimo & Rohner, Dominic, 2015. "Resource concentration and civil wars," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 32-47.
    12. Garfinkel, Michelle R. & Skaperdas, Stergios & Syropoulos, Constantinos, 2015. "Trade and insecure resources," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(1), pages 98-114.
    13. David K Levine & Salvatore Modica, 2016. "An Evolutionary Model of Intervention and Peace," Levine's Bibliography 786969000000001391, UCLA Department of Economics.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D74 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Conflict; Conflict Resolution; Alliances; Revolutions
    • C72 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Noncooperative Games
    • F51 - International Economics - - International Relations, National Security, and International Political Economy - - - International Conflicts; Negotiations; Sanctions
    • 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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