Journal Article

Can Development Aid Contribute to Social Cohesion after Civil War? Evidence from a Field Experiment in Post-Conflict Liberia

Weinstein, Jeremy M., Humphreys, Macartan, Fearon, James D.

2009

Overview

A field experiment in which villages in northern Liberia were randomly assigned to receive international development assistance provides evidence that the introduction of new local-level institutions can alter patterns of social cooperation in a way that persists after the program's conclusion. Villages exposed to a community-driven reconstruction program exhibit higher subsequent levels of social cooperation than those in the control group, as measured through a community-wide public goods game. Results suggest that changes in community cohesion can take place over a short period of time, can occur in response to outside intervention, and can develop without fundamental changes either to the structure of economic relations or to more macro-level political processes. Random assignment of communities to treatment provides confidence in the causal nature of the relationship, and the use of behavioral outcome measures reinforces the sense that the effects are real.

• Publisher: American Economic Association
• Subject: Change agents / Civil war / Civil wars / Cohesion / Communities / Community / Community change / Conflict and Development / Cooperation / Defence policy / Development aid / Development programs / Economic aid / Economic development / Economic structure / Economic theory / Experiments / Field experiments / Foreign aid / Households / Hypotheses / Interest rates / International cooperation / International economic relations / Investment return rates / Liberia / Political science / Post-conflict reconstruction / Public goods / Social capital / Social cohesion / Social control / Social development / Social impact / Social institutions / Social interaction / Studies / Villages / Violence / World Bank