100% satisfaction guarantee Immediately available after payment Both online and in PDF No strings attached
logo-home
Summary Chapter 4 - Civil wars $6.56   Add to cart

Summary

Summary Chapter 4 - Civil wars

 19 views  0 purchase
  • Course
  • Institution

Typed out the whole lesson, in detail!

Preview 3 out of 22  pages

  • May 21, 2021
  • 22
  • 2020/2021
  • Summary
avatar-seller
4. Civil wars (G. De Luca)
1. Are civil wars relevant for development economics? Why bother?

YES!!!

No major development economics textbook considers conflict…

Vast majority of current and recent civil wars are taking place in low income countries! Countries in the
“bottom billion” face a risk of 1/6 to fall into civil war in any 5 year period! Poverty rates average 54%
compared with 22% for low-income countries as a whole. They are on average poorer if they had a civil war!!
None of these countries (that had/have a civil war) has yet achieved a single Millennium Development Goal
(campaign to end poverty by 2015).

Civil wars and MDGs:




- X-asis has some MDGs: undernourished, impoverished, primarty-not enrolled, secondary-not enrolled,
infant deaths, under 5 deaths, births unattended, HIV/AIDS, access to improved water, access to
improved sanitation.
- Countries that are currently in a civil war are compared to countries that are recovering from civil war
as compared to non-FCS countries (low-income countries that have no civil war)
- The low-income countries that have no civil war are set to 1. So compare the other 2 with this.
- Undernourished: countries that are currently in a civil war, have double and more the amount of
undernourished.
- Impoverished: higher if you have a civil war and even higher if you are recovering from a civil war.
- Primary school-not enrolled: in countries with a conflict, it is 3 times as large.
- Result the first 2 bars have a higher problem as compared to other low income countries in general!

,Civil war and infant mortality:




- Focus on 1 of the goals: reduction of infant mortality.
- Countries manage to decrease infant mortality around the world in general. If you look at countries
with conflicts (red) and low-income countries without conflicts internally (grey), then you see that the
trends are increasing. But the grey line is steeper. The gap increases over time. So war has deep effects
on the health of kids!



Burundi vs. Burkina Faso:




- History of 2 African countries
- Both countries gain independence in 1960.
- In the beginning, the GDP/capita was comparable (BF a bit richer but they have a comparable starting
point).
- Over time, both countries experienced a constant increase in their income/capita, this gap decreased.
But in the early 90s, the 2 curves diverged from each other. BF starts having a steeper slope, Burundi
had a sharp drop and stagnated.
- Burundi had a civil war (red bars give the battle deaths), that’s why GDP/capita drops (to the same
level as in the 60s) and then there was a long stagnation. Even when the intensity of the civil war
reduces towards the end of the period (early 2000), there is an important lag for the income/capita to
become again increasing.
- So conflict is development in reverse!!

, 2. What drives civil wars?




- You have options: you can join a rebel group (you have the risk to go to jail) OR you can have a
degree/career and a family, you would rather want the left side.



Violence as a rational decision:




- Incentives can change!
- You can choose between joining a rebel group OR having a poor life where you depend on others. The
likelihood that you are caught and have to go to jail is much lower because of weak institutions (the
inability of formal authorities to enforce laws)! If you have strong institutions, it is way more likely to
get caught and spend your whole life in jail.
- We increased the expected benefit of joining a rebel group (because it’s less likely to get caught) and
decreased the opportunity cost (the benefit/cost of doing something else)!! So these 3 things
(opportunity cost decrease, expected benefit increase, weak institutions) shape the decisions of
joining a rebel group!! The decision is much less obvious!

The benefits of buying summaries with Stuvia:

Guaranteed quality through customer reviews

Guaranteed quality through customer reviews

Stuvia customers have reviewed more than 700,000 summaries. This how you know that you are buying the best documents.

Quick and easy check-out

Quick and easy check-out

You can quickly pay through credit card or Stuvia-credit for the summaries. There is no membership needed.

Focus on what matters

Focus on what matters

Your fellow students write the study notes themselves, which is why the documents are always reliable and up-to-date. This ensures you quickly get to the core!

Frequently asked questions

What do I get when I buy this document?

You get a PDF, available immediately after your purchase. The purchased document is accessible anytime, anywhere and indefinitely through your profile.

Satisfaction guarantee: how does it work?

Our satisfaction guarantee ensures that you always find a study document that suits you well. You fill out a form, and our customer service team takes care of the rest.

Who am I buying these notes from?

Stuvia is a marketplace, so you are not buying this document from us, but from seller maari. Stuvia facilitates payment to the seller.

Will I be stuck with a subscription?

No, you only buy these notes for $6.56. You're not tied to anything after your purchase.

Can Stuvia be trusted?

4.6 stars on Google & Trustpilot (+1000 reviews)

80364 documents were sold in the last 30 days

Founded in 2010, the go-to place to buy study notes for 14 years now

Start selling
$6.56
  • (0)
  Add to cart