Professor Aditya Dasgupta's paper "(When) Do Anti-poverty Programs Reduce Violence?" has just been published in International Organization. Congratulations Professor Dasgupta and co-authors!
The study uses the staggered roll-out of a major anti-poverty program in India to study the effects of development programs on violent civil conflict. Using a new dataset on Maoist insurgency-related violence based on local language press sources, the study provides evidence that the program reduced violence, but only in areas with sufficient state capacity to implement the program effectively. The findings demonstrate the potential for anti-poverty programs to mitigate civil conflict, but also highlight the crucial role of state capacity in shaping these effects.
