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The Effects of Development Aid as Rents on Violence

Author
Womack, Elizabeth Jade
Abstract
This study examines the extent to which development aid encourages or sup- presses violence, using the Nepalese Civil War (2000-2006) as a case study. The effect of aid is analyzed at an aggregate level, by sector, and by concentration levels using rich geo-coded data at the district level. Findings indicate that at the aggregated level, development aid has an insignificant effect on violence; while certain sectors and concentration levels of development aid significantly can encourage or reduce violence. Aid is regarded in the literature to act as a suppressor of conflict if it increases the opportunity cost to rebel and an encourager of conflict or as a rent which fuels rebel initiatives. This study indicates that development aid can effectively increase the opportunity cost to rebel, but can be seen as a rent or is perhaps poorly executed if aid is spent in the education or energy sector or is distributed at a low level of funding per capita.
Date Issued
2017-08-30Subject
Agriculture economics; civil war; conflict; development aid; Nepal; rents; violence
Committee Chair
Kanbur, Ravi
Committee Member
Ortiz Bobea, Ariel
Degree Discipline
Applied Economics and Management
Degree Name
M.S., Applied Economics and Management
Degree Level
Master of Science
Type
dissertation or thesis