Civil War, Public Goods and the Social Wealth of Nations

Ravi Kanbur and David Pottebaum

No 3124, CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers

Abstract: This Paper establishes and explores the implications of a somewhat surprising empirical finding. Although civil war adversely affects the performance of social indicators in general, poorer countries lose less, in absolute and relative terms, than richer countries. It is argued that the explanation may lie in the extent to which richer countries have better social (and economic) indicators because of more public goods, and adaptation of economic and social mechanisms to the greater abundance of public goods such as physical infrastructure. Civil war destroys public goods, and therefore damages disproportionately the countries most dependent on them. A further implication of this framework is that the post-conflict rebound in social indicators should be relatively stronger in poorer countries. The data bear out this prediction. Our results should not of course be read as implying that poorer countries need less support to avoid civil war and to cope with its aftermath. Although their losses are less, they start from a lower base; so even small declines severely impact human well being. Properly understood, our results highlight the central role that public goods play in underpinning the social (and economic) wealth of nations

Keywords: Civil war; Public goods; Post-conflict; Social indicators (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H41 O10 O15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2002-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dev and nep-mic
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Working Paper: Civil War, Public Goods and the Social Wealth of Nations (2001)
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