Cash and Conflict ; Large-Scale Experimental Evidence from Niger

Conflict undermines development, while poverty, in turn, breeds conflict. Policy interventions such as cash transfers could lower engagement in conflict by raising poor households' welfare and productivity. However, cash transfers may also trigger appropriation or looting of cash or assets. The expansion of government programs may further attract attacks to undermine state legitimacy. To investigate the net effect across these forces, this paper studies the impact of cash transfers on conflict in Niger. The analysis relies on the large-scale randomization of a government-led cash transfer prog... Mehr ...

Verfasser: Premand, Patrick
Rohner, Dominic
Dokumenttyp: Working Paper
Erscheinungsdatum: 2023
Verlag/Hrsg.: World Bank
Washington
DC
Schlagwörter: CONFLICT / TERRORISM / CASH TRANSFER EFFECTIVENESS / CASH TRANSFERS AND CONFLICT / SABATOGE OF GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS / FINANCIAL TERRORISM / BOKO HARAM
Sprache: Englisch
Permalink: https://search.fid-benelux.de/Record/base-26885758
Datenquelle: BASE; Originalkatalog
Powered By: BASE
Link(s) : http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099651402062332589/IDU0914fd60d0df8f04091081fe042e6b84b58ec

Conflict undermines development, while poverty, in turn, breeds conflict. Policy interventions such as cash transfers could lower engagement in conflict by raising poor households' welfare and productivity. However, cash transfers may also trigger appropriation or looting of cash or assets. The expansion of government programs may further attract attacks to undermine state legitimacy. To investigate the net effect across these forces, this paper studies the impact of cash transfers on conflict in Niger. The analysis relies on the large-scale randomization of a government-led cash transfer program among nearly 4,000 villages over seven years, combined with geo-referenced conflict events that draw on media and nongovernmental organization reports from a wide variety of international and domestic sources. The findings show that cash transfers did not result in greater pacification but—if anything—triggered a short-term increase in conflict events, which were to a large extent driven by terrorist attacks by foreign rebel groups (such as Boko Haram) that could have incentives to “sabotage” successful government programs.