This paper examines the long-run impact of interstate conflict on real GDP per capita for a cross section of countries between 1960 and 2000.
Whatever gains may come from fighting wars, economic growth is not among them. This paper examines the long-run impact of interstate conflict on real GDP per capita for a cross section of countries between 1960 and 2000. The authors construct a fatality-weighted conflict variable that accounts for both the severity and endogeneity of individual confrontations. The model developed includes the authors' conflict measure in a deep determinants income regression in which we control for trade, institutions and geography. The paper finds that a 10 percent increase in fatality-weighted conflict over the period 1960 to 2000 results in an average decrease of 1.2 to 1.6 percent in 2000 real GDP per capita.
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