Guns, books, or doctors ? conflict and public spending in Haiti: lessons from cross-country evidence

Raju Singh, Cristina Bodea and Masaaki Higashijima

No 7681, Policy Research Working Paper Series from The World Bank

Abstract: Haiti's economic development has been held back by a history of civil conflict and violence. With donor assistance declining from its exceptional levels following the 2010 earthquake, and concessional financing growing scarce, Haiti must learn to live with tighter budget constraints. At the same time, the United Nations forces that have provided security in the past decade are scaling down. Against this backdrop, this paper explores the conditions under which public spending can minimize violent conflict, and draws possible lessons for Haiti. Drawing on an empirical analysis of 148 countries over the period 1960-2009, simulations for Haiti suggest that increases in military spending would be associated with a higher risk of conflict, an observation in line with Haiti's own history. Greater welfare expenditure (education, health, and social assistance), by contrast, would be associated with lower risk of conflict.

Keywords: Services&Transfers to Poor; Disability; Macro-Fiscal Policy; Economic Adjustment and Lending; Access of Poor to Social Services; Economic Assistance; Public Finance Decentralization and Poverty Reduction; Public Sector Economics; Educational Sciences (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016-05-23
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