This paper documents an important channel through which culture may affect conflict. We examine a panel of developing countries over fifty years and use price shocks to extractive commodities as an exogenous variation in the country’s economic outlook. We find that these price shocks are...

Contest theory analyses an anarchic economy where agents use resources in acquisitive conflict as well as for consumption, and explores condition for peace or conflict to prevail in equilibrium. History indicates that peacekeepers in the shape of kings, dictators or states often endogenously...

Tension between efficiency and equity is fundamental to every economy. Historical differences between groups translate into inequality in skills and hence earnings. Measures to correct inequalities affect incentives and misallocate talent, therefore compromising efficiency. This paper examines...