Seeds of distrust: conflict in Uganda

Details

Serval ID
serval:BIB_3EF85A233F7A
Type
Article: article from journal or magazin.
Collection
Publications
Institution
Title
Seeds of distrust: conflict in Uganda
Journal
Journal of Economic Growth
Author(s)
Rohner D., Thoenig M., Zilibotti F.
ISSN
1381-4338
Publication state
Published
Issued date
09/2013
Peer-reviewed
Oui
Volume
18
Number
3
Pages
217-252
Language
english
Abstract
We study the effect of civil conflict on social capital, focusing on Uganda's experience during the last decade. Using individual and county-level data, we document large causal effects on trust and ethnic identity of an exogenous outburst of ethnic conflicts in 2002-2005. We exploit two waves of survey data from Afrobarometer (Round 4 Afrobarometer Survey in Uganda, 2000, 2008), including information on socioeconomic characteristics at the individual level, and geo-referenced measures of fighting events from ACLED. Our identification strategy exploits variations in the both the spatial and ethnic intensity of fighting. We find that more intense fighting decreases generalized trust and increases ethnic identity. The effects are quantitatively large and robust to a number of control variables, alternative measures of violence, and different statistical techniques involving ethnic and spatial fixed effects and instrumental variables. Controlling for the intensity of violence during the conflict, we also document that post-conflict economic recovery is slower in ethnically fractionalized counties. Our findings are consistent with the existence of a self-reinforcing process between conflicts and ethnic cleavages.
Keywords
Acholi, Afrobarometer, Causal effects of conflict, Civil war, Ethnic conflict, Identity, Satellite light, Trust, Uganda
Web of science
Create date
09/09/2013 8:16
Last modification date
20/08/2019 13:35
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