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How Many Bucks in a Bang: On the Estimation of the Economic Costs of Conflict

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  • Olaf J. de Groot
  • Tilman Brück
  • Carlos Bozzoli

Abstract

The estimation of the costs of conflict is currently receiving a lot of attention in the literature. This paper aims to give a thorough overview of the existing literature, first by addressing the history of case studies that address conflict costs and second by looking at the existing body of cross-country analyses for conflict costs. In addition to the existing cross-country literature, a number of studies that only concern themselves with particular elements of conflict costs are included as well. In the end, this paper combines the insights from these previous analyses to explore how much room there is to further improve the existing studies. Specific recommendations are given how to proceed with the development of the field of conflict cost measurement.

Suggested Citation

  • Olaf J. de Groot & Tilman Brück & Carlos Bozzoli, 2009. "How Many Bucks in a Bang: On the Estimation of the Economic Costs of Conflict," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 948, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp948
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    Cited by:

    1. Gunes Gokmen & Evgeny Yakovlev, 2017. "War and Well-Being in Transition: Russo-Georgian Conflict as a Natural Experiment," Working Papers w0243, New Economic School (NES).
    2. Julia Bluszcz & Marica Valente, 2022. "The Economic Costs of Hybrid Wars: The Case of Ukraine," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(1), pages 1-25, January.
    3. Brauer Jurgen & Dunne John P, 2011. "On the Cost of Violence and the Benefit of Peace," Peace Economics, Peace Science, and Public Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 16(2), pages 1-12, January.
    4. Bove Vincenzo & Elia Leandro, 2014. "The impact of American and British involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq on health spending, military spending and economic growth," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 14(1), pages 325-339, January.
    5. Michael Brzoska & Raphael Bossong & Eric van Um, 2011. "Security Economics in the European Context: Implications of the EUSECON Project," Economics of Security Working Paper Series 58, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    6. Vincenzo Bove & Leandro Eliay & Ron P Smith, 2014. "The relationship between panel and synthetic control estimators of the effect of civil war," BCAM Working Papers 1406, Birkbeck Centre for Applied Macroeconomics.
    7. Marco D’Errico & Assad Bori & Ana Paula de la O Campos, 2021. "Resilience and Conflict: Evidence from Mali," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-21, September.
    8. McDougal, Topher L., 2017. "The Political Economy of Rural-Urban Conflict: Predation, Production, and Peripheries," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198792598.
    9. Olaf J. de Groot, 2012. "Analyzing the costs of military engagement," Economics of Peace and Security Journal, EPS Publishing, vol. 7(2), pages 41-49, July.
    10. Gokmen, Gunes & Yakovlev, Evgeny, 2018. "War and well-being in transition: Evidence from two natural experiments," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(3), pages 788-799.
    11. Hamid E. Ali, 2013. "Estimate of The Economic Cost of Armed Conflict: A Case Study From Darfur," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(6), pages 503-519, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Conflict; costs of conflict; case studies;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C20 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - General
    • F50 - International Economics - - International Relations, National Security, and International Political Economy - - - General
    • O11 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development

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