How Peace Saves Lives: Evidence from Colombia

Abstract

The victimization of civilians and combatants during internal conflicts causes large and persistent socioeconomic costs. Moreover, it is not clear whether peace negotiations can significantly reduce this burden, as some sources of harm persist well after conflicts end. This is the case of antipersonnel landmines, which are hidden underground and remain active for decades. Looking at the recent experience of Colombia, and using a difference-in-differences empirical strategy, we study the conditions under which peace agreements reduce landmine blasts and victimization. Our findings point to the importance of post-conflict information sharing and comprehensive humanitarian mine clearance campaigns.

Peaceful entry: Entrepreneurship dynamics during Colombia’s peace agreement

“…3 Third, we contribute to the recent literature on the (positive and negative) effects of conflict termination, most of which has focused on the case of Colombia. For instance, Prem et al (2021b) and Guerra-Cújar et al (2022) document that the ceasefire improved educational outcomes and increased fertility rates in formerly FARC-affected areas and Prem et al (2021a) and Perilla et al (2021) find positive socio-economic effects of post-conflict landmine demining efforts, but Prem et al (2020) show that it also increased large scale deforestation and Prem et al (2022) suggest that it triggered selective violence targeted toward local community leaders in areas disputed by illegal armed groups other than FARC. For the case of Somalia, Shortland et al (2013) find a significant peace dividend for low-income households that varied according to the intensity of the conflict.…”

A Peace Baby Boom? Evidence from Colombia’s Peace Agreement

“…Moreover, this paper contributes to the growing literature that studies the consequences of conflict termination, particularly the end of the 5-decade long conflict between FARC and the Colombian state. Other papers highlight significant unintended negative consequences of the peace agreement in terms of the security of social leaders (Prem et al, 2022b) and the dynamics of deforestation, coca cultivation, and entrepreneurship (Prem et al, 2020(Prem et al, , 2021aBernal et al, 2022), as well as the positive implications of peace and demining for saving lives and human capital accumulation (Perilla et al, 2022;Prem et al, 2021bPrem et al, , 2022a.…”

Peaceful Entry: Entrepreneurship Dynamics during Colombia's Peace Agreement

“…3 Third, we contribute to the recent literature on the (positive and negative) effects of conflict termination, most of which has focused on the case of Colombia. For instance, Prem et al (2021b) and Guerra-Cújar et al (2022) document that the ceasefire improved educational outcomes and increased fertility rates in formerly FARC-affected areas and Prem et al (2021a) and Perilla et al (2021) find positive socio-economic effects of post-conflict landmine demining efforts, but Prem et al (2020) show that it also increased large scale deforestation and Prem et al (2022) suggest that it triggered selective violence targeted toward local community leaders in areas disputed by illegal armed groups other than FARC. For the case of Somalia, Shortland et al (2013) find a significant peace dividend for low-income households that varied according to the intensity of the conflict.…”