Conflict, Postwar Rebuilding and the Economy: A Critical Review of Literature

The objective of this paper it to provide a critical overview of the economic literature on conflicts and postwar reconstruction since the end of the Cold War. Depsite the enormous human and economic costs of war in the developing world, the contributions of economists to research in this area are still surprisingly sparse and limited, even if commitment to remedying this has been increasing. It is true that economic research on war-torn countries runs in particular methodological difficulties. Substantial effort and innovative approaches are thus required to cope more effectively with the challenges of socioeconomic rebuilding.