Natural Resources and Violent Conflict: Resource Abundance, Dependence and the Onset of Civil Wars

Christa Brunnschweiler and Erwin Bulte

No 08/78, CER-ETH Economics working paper series from CER-ETH - Center of Economic Research (CER-ETH) at ETH Zurich

Abstract: In this paper we examine the claim that natural resources invite civil conflict, and challenge the main stylized facts in this literature. We find that the nature of causation between resource dependence and civil war is opposite to conventional wisdom. In particular, (i) civil war creates dependence on primary sector exports, but the reverse is not true, and (ii) resource abundance is associated with a reduced probability of the onset of war. These results are robust to a range of specifications and, considering the conflict channel, we conclude there is no reason to regard resources as a general curse to development.

Keywords: Civil war; resource abundance; resource dependence; greed versus grievance; resource curse (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: N40 N50 O11 Q34 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 36 pages
Date: 2008-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dev, nep-ene, nep-env, nep-his and nep-pol
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (17)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Natural resources and violent conflict: resource abundance, dependence, and the onset of civil wars (2009)
Working Paper: Natural Resources and Violent Conflict: Resource Abundance, Dependenc and the Onset of Civil Wars (2009)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eth:wpswif:08-78

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