Violent Conflict and Inequality

37 Pages Posted: 29 Jun 2010

See all articles by Cagatay Bircan

Cagatay Bircan

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)

Tilman Brück

IGZ - Leibniz Institute of Vegetable and Ornamental Crops; ISDC - International Security and Development Center; IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Marc Vothknecht

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Abstract

This paper analyzes the distributive impacts of violent conflicts, which is in contrast to previous literature that has focused on the other direction. We use cross-country panel data for the time period 1960-2005 to estimate war-related changes in income inequality. Our results indicate rising levels of inequality during war and especially in the early period of post-war reconstruction. However, we find that this rise in income inequality is not permanent. While inequality peaks around five years after the end of a conflict, it declines again to pre-war levels within the end of the first post-war period. Lagged effects of conflict and only subsequent adjustments of redistributive policies in the period of post-war reconstruction seem to be valid explanations for these patterns of inequality. A series of alternative specifications confirms the main findings of the analysis.

Keywords: conflict, war, inequality, reconstruction, income distribution

JEL Classification: O11, O15

Suggested Citation

Bircan, Cagatay and Brück, Tilman and Vothknecht, Marc, Violent Conflict and Inequality. IZA Discussion Paper No. 4990, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1631125 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1631125

Cagatay Bircan (Contact Author)

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) ( email )

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Tilman Brück

IGZ - Leibniz Institute of Vegetable and Ornamental Crops ( email )

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Germany

HOME PAGE: http://www.igzev.de

ISDC - International Security and Development Center ( email )

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HOME PAGE: http://www.isd-center.org

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

Marc Vothknecht

affiliation not provided to SSRN ( email )

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