The Economics of Conflict

DECRG Ongoing Research on the Economics of Conflict
 
The Development Economics Research Group (DECRG) has scaled up research on the effects of conflict and fragility on development in line with President Zoellick’s strategic theme on fragility and conflict.  DECRG has been involved in research on the economic causes and consequences of conflict for nearly a decade starting with the Economics of Civil War, Crime and Violence research project.  Current research can be divided into three areas of focus: 

Peace and Development:  A new Knowledge for Change funded research project on the effects of powersharing, democratization and macroeconomic policy on immediate post-conflict development. These issues are analyzed in the context of case studies that reflect varied and rich post-conflict experiences.   In keeping with the collaborative tradition of past research, this research project is being conducted with the Institute for the Study of International Development at McGill University. This partnership ensures multi-disciplinary research and north-south collaboration through an innovative research approach that brings thematic paper authors and case study authors together over the length of the research project.  Our first workshop was held in Montreal in November, 2008.  The second set of papers will be presented in a workshop in Kigali in May, 2009. 

The Landmine Contamination, Casualties and Clearance Database (LC3D):  This is a new dataset consisting of country and some sub-national level data on unexploded ordinance and explosive remnants of war for affected countries, 1998 to Present.  The first inputs for this dataset were drawn from the Landmine Monitor for these years.  Further refinement and additional data for these countries/years is being collected in collaboration with the UN Mine Action Team, the UNDP, Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining, and other partners.  The first version of the dataset will be published in June 2009 and it will be updated continuously as more data becomes available from partners.

The Armed Conflict and Location and Event Database (ACLED):  DEC supports the gathering of real-time geographically identified (GIS) conflict data through the ACLED project.  Using data from international news sources, ACLED is expanding the pilot project to cover approximately forty countries, including all of the World Bank’s fragile states.  This will later be expanded to include all conflict events and will be backdated to 1997 to expand the dataset for researchers.   

Questions about research related to the economics of fragile and conflict-affected countries should be directed to Gary Milante, Research Economist, DECRG.