Hostname: page-component-7dd5485656-bt4hw Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-10-30T08:01:10.104Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Can Employment Reduce Lawlessness and Rebellion? A Field Experiment with High-Risk Men in a Fragile State

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 April 2016

CHRISTOPHER BLATTMAN  and
JEANNIE ANNAN
CHRISTOPHER BLATTMAN*
Affiliation:
Columbia University
JEANNIE ANNAN*
Affiliation:
International Rescue Committee
*
Christopher Blattman is Associate Professor, Columbia University, Political Science and SIPA (chrisblattman@columbia.edu).
Jeannie Annan is Director of Research and Evaluation, International Rescue Committee (jeannie.annan@rescue.org).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

States and aid agencies use employment programs to rehabilitate high-risk men in the belief that peaceful work opportunities will deter them from crime and violence. Rigorous evidence is rare. We experimentally evaluate a program of agricultural training, capital inputs, and counseling for Liberian ex-fighters who were illegally mining or occupying rubber plantations. Fourteen months after the program ended, men who accepted the program offer increased their farm employment and profits, and shifted work hours away from illicit activities. Men also reduced interest in mercenary work in a nearby war. Finally, some men did not receive their capital inputs but expected a future cash transfer instead, and they reduced illicit and mercenary activities most of all. The evidence suggests that illicit and mercenary labor supply responds to small changes in returns to peaceful work, especially future and ongoing incentives. But the impacts of training alone, without capital, appear to be low.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 110 , Issue 1 , February 2016 , pp. 1 - 17
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Akerlof, G. A., and Kranton, R. E.. 2000. “Economics and Identity.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 115 (3): 715–53.Google Scholar
Attanasio, O., Kugler, A., and Meghir, C.. 2011. “Subsidizing Vocational Training for Disadvantaged Youth in Colombia: Evidence from a Randomized Trial.” American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 3 (3): 188–220.Google Scholar
Banerjee, A. V., and Duflo, E.. 2011. Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty. New York: Public Affairs.Google Scholar
Banerjee, A. V., Duflo, E., Goldberg, N., Karlan, D., Osei, R., Parienté, W., Shapiro, J., Thuysbaert, B., and Udry, C.. 2015. “A Multi-faceted Program Causes Lasting Progress for the Very Poor: Evidence from Six Countries.” Science 348 (6236): 722–37.Google Scholar
Bazzi, S., and Blattman, C.. 2014. “Economic Shocks and Conflict: Evidence from Commodity Prices.” American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics 6 (4): 1–38.Google Scholar
Becker, G. S. 1968. “Crime and Punishment: An Economic Approach.” Journal of Political Economy 76: 169–217.Google Scholar
Berman, E., Felter, J. H., Shapiro, J. N., and Callen, M.. 2011. “Do Working Men Rebel? Insurgency and Unemployment in Afghanistan, Iraq and the Philippines.” Journal of Conflict Resolution 55 (4): 496–528.Google Scholar
Blattman, C., Annan, J., Green, E. P., Lehmann, C., and Jamison, J.. 2016. “The Returns to Microenterprise Development Among the Ultra-poor: A Field Experiment in Post-war Uganda.” American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 8 (2): 35–64.Google Scholar
Blattman, C., Fiala, N., and Martinez, S.. 2014. “Generating Skilled Employment in Developing Countries: Experimental Evidence from Uganda.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 129 (2): 697–752.Google Scholar
Blattman, C., Jamison, J., and Sheridan, M.. 2015. “Reducing Crime and Violence: Experimental Evidence on Adult Noncognitive Investments in Liberia.” Working paper.Google Scholar
Blattman, C., and Ralston, L.. 2015. “Generating Employment in Poor and Fragile States: A Review of the Evidence from Labor Market and Entrepreneurship Programs. Working paper.Google Scholar
Bøås, M., and Hatløy, A.. 2008. “‘Getting In, Getting Out’: Militia Membership and Prospects for Re-integration in Post-war Liberia.” The Journal of Modern African Studies 46 (01): 33–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cho, Y., Kalomba, D., Mobarak, A. M., and Orozco, V.. 2013. “Gender Differences in the Effects of Vocational Training: Constraints on Women and Drop-out Behavior.” Working paper.Google Scholar
Christensen, M. M., and Utas, M.. 2008. “Mercenaries of Democracy: The ‘Politricks’ of Remobilized Combatants in the 2007 General Elections, Sierra Leone.” African Affairs 107 (429): 1–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dube, O., Garcia-Ponce, O., and Thom, K.. 2014. “From Maize to Haze: Agricultural Shocks and the Growth of the Mexican Drug Sector.” Working paper.Google Scholar
Dube, O., and Vargas, J. F.. 2013. “Commodity Price Shocks and Civil Conflict: Evidence From Colombia.” Review of Economic Studies 80 (4): 1384–421.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Freeman, R. B. 1999. “The Economics of Crime.” In Handbook of Labor Economics, eds. Ashenfelter, O. and Card, D., Vol. 5. Am-sterdam: Elsevier, pp. 3529–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garnaglay, B. 2011, January. “Liberian Mercenaries Hope for Work in Ivory Coast.” Reuters. Available at http://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFTRE6BU1T420101231.Google Scholar
Gendreau, P., and Andrews, D. A.. 1994. The correctional program assessment inventory. Technical report, University of New Brunswick, Saint John.Google Scholar
Gilligan, M. J., Mvukiyehe, E. N., and Samii, C.. 2012. “Reintegrating Rebels into Civilian Life: Quasi-Experimental Evidence from Burundi.” Journal of Conflict Resolution 57 (4): 598–626.Google Scholar
Grogger, J. 1998. “Market Wages and Youth Crime.” Journal of Labor Economics 16 (4): 756–91.Google Scholar
Gurr, T. R. 1971. Why Men Rebel. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Haushofer, J., and Shapiro, J.. 2013. “Welfare Effects of Unconditional Cash Transfers: Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial in Kenya.” Working paper.Google Scholar
Heckman, J. J., and Kautz, T.. 2013. “Fostering and Measuring Skills: Interventions that Improve Character and Cognition.” NBER Working Paper 19656.Google Scholar
Heller, S. B., Pollack, H. A., Ander, R., and Ludwig, J.. 2013. “Preventing Youth Violence and Dropout: A Randomized Field Experiment.” Working Paper.Google Scholar
Heller, S. B., Shah, A. K., Guryan, J., Ludwig, J., Mullainathan, S., and Pollack, H. A.. 2015. “Thinking, Fast and Slow? Some Field Experiments to Reduce Crime and Dropout in Chicago.” Working paper.Google Scholar
Humphreys, M., and Weinstein, J. M.. 2007. “Demobilization and Reintegration.” Journal of Conflict Resolution 51: 531–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
ICG. 2011. “Liberia: How Sustainable is the Recovery?” Technical report, International Crisis Group.Google Scholar
Kingma, K., and Muggah, R.. 2009, May. “Critical Issues in DDR: Context, indicators, targeting, and challenges.” Technical report, CIDDR Conference, Colombia.Google Scholar
Levely, I. 2013. “Measuring Intermediate Outcomes of Liberia’s Disarmament, Demobilization, Rehabilitation and Reintegration Program.” Defence and Peace Economics 25 (3): 139–62.Google Scholar
Levitt, S. D., and Venkatesh, S. A.. 2000. “An Economic Analysis of a Drug-Selling Gang’s Finances.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 115: 755–89.Google Scholar
McKenzie, D. J., and Woodruff, C.. 2014. “What are we Learning from Business Training and Entrepreneurship Evaluations Around the Developing World?” World Bank Research Observer 29 (1): 48–82.Google Scholar
Merton, R. K. 1938. “Social Structure and Anomie.” American Sociological Review 3, 672–82.Google Scholar
Miguel, E., Satyanath, S., and Sergenti, E.. 2004. “Economic Shocks and Civil Conflict: An Instrumental Variables Approach.” Journal of Political Economy 112: 725–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nussio, E., and Oppenheim, B.. 2014. “Anti-Social Capital in Former Members of Non-State Armed Groups: A Case Study of Colombia.” Studies in Conflict & Terrorism 37, 999–1023.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Popkin, S. L. 1979. The Rational Peasant: The Political Economy of Rural Society in Vietnam. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Republic of Liberia. 2008. Liberia Poverty Reduction Strategy. IMF Country Report 08/219, Monrovia, Liberia.Google Scholar
Tajima, Y. 2009. Background paper on economic reintegration.Google Scholar
Utas, M. 2003. Sweet Battlefields: Youth and the Liberian Civil War. Uppsala, Sweden: Uppsala University Dissertations in Cultural Anthropology.Google Scholar
Walter, B. F. 2004. “Does Conflict Beget Conflict? Explaining Recurring Civil War.” Journal of Peace Research 41: 371–88.Google Scholar
Wood, E. J. 2003. Insurgent Collective Action and Civil War in El Salvador. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
World Bank. 2012. World Development Report 2013: Jobs. Washington: World Bank.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Supplementary material: PDF

BLATTMAN and ANNAN

Appendix

Download BLATTMAN and ANNAN(PDF)
PDF 426.5 KB
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.