Medication Against Conflict

Abstract

This paper investigates the consequences of the successful expansion of anti-retroviral therapy (ART) to combat the HIV/AIDS pandemic on social violence and conflict in Africa. Identification is based on exogenous variation in the scope for treatment and global variation in drug prices. We find that the ART expansion significantly reduced the number of violent events in African countries and sub-national regions. The effect is not explained by general improvements in economic prosperity, but related to health improvements, greater approval of government policy, and increased trust in political institutions. Counterfactual simulations illustrate the quantitative relevance of the results.

Note:
Funding Information: Dominic Rohner gratefully acknowledges financial support from the ERC Starting Grant POLICIES FOR PEACE-677595. Uwe Sunde gratefully acknowledges financial support by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft through CRC TRR 190 (project number 280092119).

Declaration of Interests: None.

Keywords: Africa, ART expansion, conflict, Domestic violence, Health Intervention, HIV, Social Violence, Trust

JEL Classification: C36, D47, I15, O10