Reconciling disagreement over climate–conflict results in Africa

Solomon M Hsiang and Kyle Meng

University of California at Santa Barbara, Recent Works in Economics from Department of Economics, UC Santa Barbara

Abstract: A recent study by Burke et al. [Burke M, Miguel E, Satyanath S, Dykema J, Lobell D (2009) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 106(49):20670-20674] reports statistical evidence that the likelihood of civil wars in African countries was elevated in hotter years. A following study by Buhaug [Buhaug H (2010) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 107(38):16477-16482] reports that a reexamination of the evidence overturns Burke et al.'s findings when alternative statistical models and alternative measures of conflict are used. We show that the conclusion by Buhaug is based on absent or incorrect statistical tests, both in model selection and in the comparison of results with Burke et al. When we implement the correct tests, we find there is no evidence presented in Buhaug that rejects the original results of Burke et al.

Keywords: Peace; Justice and Strong Institutions; Global Warming; Warfare; climate change; temperature; security (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014-02-11
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (16)

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