Can Development Programs Counter Insurgencies? Evidence from a Field Experiment in Afghanistan
Andrew Beath,
Fotini Christia and
Ruben Enikolopov
American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 2025, vol. 17, issue 3, 80-116
Abstract:
We exploit a randomized controlled trial conducted between 2007 and 2011 to identify the effect of Afghanistan's largest local governance and development program on the strength of the insurgency. We find that the program reduced violence, improved economic outcomes, and increased government support in interior regions of the country, but increased violence in villages close to the Pakistani border, where foreign insurgents were more numerous. The results suggest that development programs can be effective in suppressing locally driven insurgencies, but may be counterproductive where insurgents are not reliant on the local population for support.
JEL-codes: C93 D74 F35 O15 O17 O18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:
Downloads: (external link)
https://www.aeaweb.org/doi/10.1257/app.20230150 (application/pdf)
https://www.aeaweb.org/articles/materials/23384 (application/pdf)
https://www.aeaweb.org/articles/materials/23385 (application/zip)
Access to full text is restricted to AEA members and institutional subscribers.
Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.
Export reference: BibTeX
RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan)
HTML/Text
Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aea:aejapp:v:17:y:2025:i:3:p:80-116
Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.aeaweb.org/journals/subscriptions
DOI: 10.1257/app.20230150
Access Statistics for this article
American Economic Journal: Applied Economics is currently edited by Alexandre Mas
More articles in American Economic Journal: Applied Economics from American Economic Association Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Michael P. Albert ().