War and Relatedness

Enrico Spolaore and Romain Wacziarg ()

No 15095, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: We develop a theory of interstate conflict in which the degree of genealogical relatedness between populations has a positive effect on their conflict propensities because more closely related populations, on average, tend to interact more and develop more disputes over sets of common issues. We examine the empirical relationship between the occurrence of interstate conflicts and the degree of relatedness between countries, showing that populations that are genetically closer are more prone to go to war with each other, even after controlling for a wide set of measures of geographic distance and other factors that affect conflict, including measures of trade and democracy.

JEL-codes: F51 F52 F54 F55 F59 H56 N10 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dev
Date: 2009-06
Note: POL
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Working Paper: War and Relatedness (2009)
Working Paper: War and Relatedness (2009)
Working Paper: War and Relatedness (2009)
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