Winning hearts and minds through development ? evidence from a field experiment in Afghanistan

Andrew Beath, Fotini Christia, Ruben Enikolopov, Andrew Beath, Fotini Christia and Ruben Enikolopov
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Ruben Enikolopov and Andrew Beath

No 6129, Policy Research Working Paper Series from The World Bank

Abstract: In areas afflicted by civil conflict, development projects can potentially serve an important counterinsurgency function by redressing grievances of marginalized groups and reducing violence. Using a large-scale randomized field experiment in Afghanistan, this paper explores whether the inclusion of villages in the country's largest development program alters perceptions of well-being, attitudes toward government, and violence in surrounding areas. The results indicate that the program generally has a positive effect on all three measures, but has no effects in areas with high levels of initial violence. These findings demonstrate that development programs can buttress government support and limit the onset of insurgencies in relatively secure areas, but that their effectiveness is more constrained in areas where insurgents are already active.

Keywords: Labor Policies; Subnational Economic Development; E-Business; Post Conflict Reconstruction; Housing&Human Habitats (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012-07-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-exp and nep-ppm
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (42)

Downloads: (external link)
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/455111467989984735/pdf/WPS6129.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6129

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Policy Research Working Paper Series from The World Bank 1818 H Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20433. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Roula I. Yazigi ().