Abstract

Does democracy curb domestic political violence? To study this, we focus on the United Kingdom’s Representation of the People Act of 1867 - which is a critical juncture in the history of democratisation. Constructing a novel borough (‘urban centre’) level dataset on social conflict events and economic performance around the 1868 elections (the first elections where newly enfranchised citizens could vote), we exploit arguably exogenous variation in enfranchisement intensity. We find a strong and robust peace-promoting effect of franchise extension and identify as a major channel of transmission the increase of the population’s political influence (voice) and local economic growth. 

Abstract

This paper studies the relationship between access to water resources and local violence in Africa. Due to limited irrigation, rural communities rely on water from rainfall and rivers for their economic needs. When rainfall is scarcer, river water becomes more valuable, potentially fueling violence in areas with greater control over its flow. We test this hypothesis by combining high-resolution data on hydrography, river network structure, rainfall, and conflict in Africa from 1997 to 2021. Low rainfall in a location increases conflict in neighboring areas that are water-rich and located upstream along the river network. The effects are stronger where water distribution among ethnic groups is more unequal and weaker in countries with better governance. The increase in conflicts is more pronounced in regions facing a long-term decline in river water availability. These findings suggest that water access can drive local violence, a risk that may grow as climate change increases the frequency of droughts and reshapes river water distribution.

Abstract

We study the evolution of housing rents in the proximity of asylum seeker hosting centers whose populations differ by ethnic composition. Rental prices within 0.7km of an active center are found on average to be 3.8% lower than in the control group. The price response is significantly more pronounced when centers host a higher share of asylum seekers from Sub-Saharan Africa. In contrast, neither religious affiliation nor inferred crime propensity of the center populations are found to affect local rental prices significantly. Our findings are consistent with phenotype-based racial animus as a significant driver of observed market outcomes.