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Nation Building Through Foreign Intervention: Evidence from Discontinuities in Military Strategies

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  • Melissa Dell
  • Pablo Querubin

Abstract

This study uses discontinuities in U.S. strategies employed during the Vietnam War to estimate their causal impacts. It identifies the effects of bombing by exploiting rounding thresholds in an algorithm used to target air strikes. Bombing increased the military and political activities of the communist insurgency, weakened local governance, and reduced non-communist civic engagement. The study also exploits a spatial discontinuity across neighboring military regions, which pursued different counterinsurgency strategies. A strategy emphasizing overwhelming firepower plausibly increased insurgent attacks and worsened attitudes towards the U.S. and South Vietnamese government, relative to a hearts and minds oriented approach.

Suggested Citation

  • Melissa Dell & Pablo Querubin, 2016. "Nation Building Through Foreign Intervention: Evidence from Discontinuities in Military Strategies," NBER Working Papers 22395, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:22395
    Note: DAE DEV POL
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • F35 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - Foreign Aid
    • F51 - International Economics - - International Relations, National Security, and International Political Economy - - - International Conflicts; Negotiations; Sanctions
    • F52 - International Economics - - International Relations, National Security, and International Political Economy - - - National Security; Economic Nationalism

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