The Causes of Civil War

The dominant hypothesis in the literature that studies conflict is that poverty is the main cause of civil wars. The authors instead analyze the effect of institutions on civil war, controlling for income per capita. In their set up, institutions are endogenous and colonial origins affect civil wars through their legacy on institutions. Their results indicate that institutions, proxied by the protection of property rights, rule of law and the efficiency of the legal system, are a fundamental cause of civil war. In particular, an improvement in institutions from the median value in the sample to the 75th percentile is associated with a 38 percentage points' reduction in the incidence of civil wars. Moreover, once institutions are included as explaining civil wars, income does not have any effect on civil war, either directly or indirectly.

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	Djankov, Simeon, Reynal-Querol, Marta
Language:	English
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 2007-06
Subjects:	ABSOLUTE VALUE, ARMED CONFLICT, CIVIL CONFLICT, CIVIL WAR, CIVIL WARS, CONFLICT RESOLUTION, COURTS, DEFENSE, DEMOCRACY, DEPENDENT VARIABLE, DEVELOPMENT POLICY, DIFFERENCES IN INCOME, DISPUTES, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, ECONOMIC GROWTH, ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE, ECONOMIC REVIEW, ECONOMIC SHOCKS, ECONOMIC STAGNATION, ECONOMIC THEORY, EMPIRICAL LITERATURE, EMPIRICAL RESULTS, EMPIRICAL STUDIES, ENDOGENOUS VARIABLE, ENDOGENOUS VARIABLES, EPIDEMICS, EXOGENOUS VARIABLE, EXPLANATORY POWER, EXPLANATORY VARIABLE, EXPLANATORY VARIABLES, EXPROPRIATION, GAMBIA, INCOME, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, INCOME TAXATION, INCOME VARIABLES, INVESTIGATION, LAND REFORM, LARGE POPULATION, LARGE POPULATIONS, MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS, MONETARY ECONOMICS, MORTALITY, MORTALITY RATES, NATURAL RESOURCES, NEGATIVE RELATIONSHIP, 0 HYPOTHESIS, OPPORTUNITY COST, PEACE, PEACE RESEARCH, PER CAPITA INCOME, POLICY RESEARCH, POLICY RESEARCH WORKING PAPER, POLITICAL CHANGE, POLITICAL ECONOMY, POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS, POLITICAL SCIENCE, POLITICAL SYSTEMS, POOR, POOR COUNTRIES, POSITIVE EFFECT, POSITIVE RELATIONSHIP, POVERTY INCREASES, PRIVATE AGENTS, PROGRESS, PROPERTY RIGHTS, REGIONAL SAMPLES, REGRESSION ANALYSIS, RULE OF LAW, SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS, SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES, SIGNIFICANT EFFECT, TAXATION, WARS,
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2007/06/7726695/causes-civil-war https://hdl.handle.net/10986/7416
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