Criminal groups use violence strategically to manipulate the behavior of victims and bystanders. At the same time, violence is a stimulus that causes fear, which also shapes people’s reactions. Taking advantage of the randomness in the timing of antipersonnel landmine accidents in Colombia, as...

We study how antipersonnel landmines thwart democratic accountability and the consolidation of post-conflict democratic institutions. We do so by exploiting the randomness in the timing of landmine explosions relative to election days, comparing the electoral outcomes of voting polls located...

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...

Anti-personnel landmines thwart long-term development. However, mine removal initiatives are not necessarily beneficial. Demining may be detrimental while conflicts are ongoing or if fails to achieve full clearance. Using georeferenced data on demining operations in Colombia and exploiting its...

On the eve of a democratization by election, one of the most common forms of transition, dictators can use uncertainty about the future to win political support. We study the evolution of uncertainty from dictatorship to democracy in Chile using text analysis of business communications. We...

While there is a large literature on how conflict affects entrepreneurship and investment, little is known about how the end of a conflict affects businesses and firms’ creation. The direction of the effect is not obvious as conflicts bequest poverty and inequality –reducing the returns of...