The Prices of Wrath: Gold in Burkina Faso

Tebkieta Alexandra Tapsoba, Jean-Louis Combes () and Pascale Combes Motel ()
Additional contact information
Tebkieta Alexandra Tapsoba: Institut Supérieur des Sciences de la Population, University Joseph KI-ZERBO
Jean-Louis Combes: LEO - Laboratoire d'Économie d'Orleans [2022-...] - UO - Université d'Orléans - UT - Université de Tours - NEOLAiA - NEOLAiA European University = Université Européenne NEOLAÏA - UCA - Université Clermont Auvergne
Pascale Combes Motel: LEO - Laboratoire d'Économie d'Orleans [2022-...] - UO - Université d'Orléans - UT - Université de Tours - NEOLAiA - NEOLAiA European University = Université Européenne NEOLAÏA - UCA - Université Clermont Auvergne, UCA - Université Clermont Auvergne

Working Papers from HAL

Abstract: Fluctuations in the price of natural resources are widely recognised as a driver of conflict, particularly in contexts where resources are abundant yet the environment is fragile. This article examines the relationship between global gold prices and conflict in Burkina Faso, a country where gold mining has expanded rapidly amid rising insecurity. Our hypothesis is that higher gold prices intensify conflict in gold-producing municipalities by exacerbating competition over resource rents and labour reallocation. Using an original municipal-level dataset (2013-2022) combining conflict events and measures of gold endowment, we employ an identification strategy that leverages exogenous variations in global gold prices and four alternative proxies for local gold endowment. Our results demonstrate that higher gold prices significantly escalate conflict in gold-rich municipalities compared to non-rich ones. We interpret this as evidence of an 'output conflict' mechanism: as agricultural productivity declines, labour shifts towards gold extraction, exposing local populations to predation by armed groups and exacerbating local disputes. This study contributes to the literature on resource-driven conflict by highlighting how global commodity price levels interact with local economic structures to fuel instability, with implications for policy responses in resource-dependent economies.

Keywords: Conflicts natural resources Sahel Burkina Faso. JEL codes Q34 O55; Conflicts; natural resources; Sahel; Burkina Faso. JEL codes Q34; O55 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-09-13
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-05748282v1
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://hal.science/hal-05748282v1/document (application/pdf)

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:hal:wpaper:hal-05748282

DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.22735847

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Working Papers from HAL
Bibliographic data for series maintained by CCSD ().