Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/217229 
Year of Publication: 
2020
Series/Report no.: 
Discussion Papers No. 269
Publisher: 
Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Courant Research Centre - Poverty, Equity and Growth (CRC-PEG), Göttingen
Abstract: 
We provide evidence on the mechanisms linking resource-related income shocks to conflict, focusing specifically on illegal crops. We hypothesize that the degree of group competition over resources and the extent of law enforcement explain whether opportunity cost or contest effects dominate. Combining temporal variation in international drug prices with spatial variation in the suitability to produce opium, we show that in Afghanistan higher prices increase household living standards, and reduce conflict. Using georeferenced data on the drug production network and Taliban versus pro-government control highlights the importance of opportunity cost effects, and reveals heterogeneous effects in line with our theory.
Subjects: 
resources
resource curse
conflict
drugs
illicit economy
illegality
geography of conflict
Afghanistan
Taliban
JEL: 
D74
K42
O13
O53
Q1
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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