Do Commodity Price Shocks Cause Armed Conflicts? A Meta-Analysis of Natural Experiments

Graeme Graeme Blair, Darin Christensen and Aaron Rudkin
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Graeme Graeme Blair: UCLA
Darin Christensen: UCLA
Aaron Rudkin: UCLA

Empirical Studies of Conflict Project (ESOC) Working Papers from Empirical Studies of Conflict Project

Abstract: Scholars of the resource curse argue that reliance on primary commodities destabilizes governments: price fluctuations generate windfalls or periods of austerity that provoke or intensify civil conflict. Over 350 quantitative studies test this claim, but prominent results point in different directions, making it difficult to discern which results reliably hold across contexts. We conduct a meta-analysis of 46 natural experiments that use difference-in-difference designs to estimate the causal effect of commodity price changes on armed civil conflict. We show that commodity price changes, on average, do not change the likelihood of conflict. However, there are cross-cutting effects by commodity type. In line with theory, we find price increases for labor-intensive agricultural commodities reduce conflict, while increases in the price of oil, a capital-intensive commodity, provoke conflict. We also find that price increases for lootable artisanal minerals provoke conflict. Our meta-analysis consolidates existing evidence, but also highlights opportunities for future research.

Keywords: resource curse; armed conflict; commodity prices; meta-analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D74 Q20 Q30 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dev and nep-ene
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pri:esocpu:21

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