Fanning The Flames: Rainfall Shocks, Inter-Ethnic Income Inequality, and Conflict Intensification in Mandate Palestine

Laura Panza and Eik Swee

No 14366, CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers

Abstract: We examine the effect of inter-ethnic income inequality on conflict intensification in Mandate Palestine, using a novel panel dataset comprising district-level characteristics and conflict intensity across 18 districts during 1926-1945. We instrument Jewish-Arab income inequality by combining the annual variation in rainfall shocks with cross-sectional variation in pre-Mandate crop intensity, to extract exogenous changes in inequality between non-agrarian Jews and agrarian Arabs. We find a substantial e ect of inequality on conflict intensification, especially during periods where the relationship between Arabs and Jews were particularly strained. Our estimates are driven by Arab-initiated attacks, reflecting the local average treatment effects of Arab farmers who move from agrarian work to violence in response to adverse rainfall shocks; in other words, economic shocks coupled with existing economic segregation facilitate the transition into violence when opposing groups are economic substitutes. Further investigations suggest that inequality-driven violence was most likely an expression of resentment, rather than the result of opportunity costs or appropriation

Keywords: Inter-ethnic violence; Income inequality; Mandate palestine (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D74 N35 N45 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Journal Article: Fanning the flames: Rainfall shocks, inter‐ethnic income inequality, and conflict intensification in Mandate Palestine (2023)
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