Economics of Conflict
University of Ottawa
ECO4193 - Fall 2023
Monday (FSS1005) and Wednesday (VNR3035) 17:30-18:50
Professor: Louis Hotte
Course Outline

Important dates:
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  • Quiz every Wednesday at 5:30pm sharp (starting September 20, 2023)
  • Final exam: Dec 18 2023, 7pm, room FSS 1030

Topics covered and readings:
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Week 1 (Sept 6) - Intro to conflict economics (1.5 hr)
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  1. Presentation of outline
  2. Overview of themes to be covered
  3. What is conflict economics (slides)
    1. Is property rights conflict?
    2. Nonreplicability and Appropriability
  4. Read pp 161-163 in Hotte, L (2013) Environmental conflict and natural resources.

Week 2 (Sept 11, 13) - Property rights and conflict (3 hr)
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  1. Intro completed
  2. On the concept of property rights
    1. Ownership rights in the French Civil Code
    2. The open-access fishery example
    3. The property right (non)solution
    4. Exclusion, coercion and conflict
    5. Case in point: Police peeping and pirate night action on forbidden oyster beds
  3. The transaction costs approach
    1. The polluting tire factory example
      1. The Pigouvian tax (non)solution
      2. Coasian bargaining
    2. Case in point: Herder revolt against taxation in the forest
  4. Practice problem: The sardines fishery

Week 3 (Sept 18, 20) - Transaction costs - Empirical analysis in economics (3 hr)
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  1. Quiz 1: Wednesday Sept 20 at 5h30 sharp (20 minutes)
  2. Coasian bargaining continued
    1. Resource allocation in the absence of transaction costs
      1. The Coase theorem
    2. Resource allocation in the presence of transaction costs
      1. The night flights example
  3. Empirical paper I: Crime and banking in Costa Rica
    1. A brief introduction to econometric analysis

Week 4 (Sept 25, 27) - Banking and Crime in Costa Rica - Mining and Conflict in Colombia (3 hr)
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  1. Quiz 2: Wednesday Sept 27 at 5h30 sharp (20 minutes)
  2. Intro to econometric analysis in economics
  3. Empirical paper 1: Banking on the Household: Gender Bargaining and Other Crime Stories (continued)
  4. Empirical paper 2: Land Conflicts in the Wake of Gold Mining Expansion: A Study on Forced Displacement and Murders of Social Leaders

Week 5 (Oct 2, 4) - (3 hr)
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  1. Quiz 3: Wednesday Oct 4 at 5h30 (20 minutes)
    • On the Costa Rica paper
  2. The two-herder allegory: Free access and strategic interactions

Week 6 (Oct 11) - (1.5 hr)
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  1. Quiz 4: Wednesday Oct 11 at 5h30 (20 minutes)
    • On the two-herder model
  2. Cooperation between herders
  3. A basic model of conflict

Week 7 (Oct 16, 18) - (3 hr)
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  1. Quiz 5: Wednesday Oct 18 at 5h30 (20 minutes)
    • On the two-herder model
    • Cooperation between herders
    • A basic model of conflict
  2. A basic model of conflict (continued)
  3. A model of conflict with production

Reading week (Oct 23-27)
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Week 8 (Oct 30, Nov 1) - (3 hr)
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  1. Quiz 6: Wednesday Nov 1st at 5h30pm (20 minutes)
    • On basic model of conflict
    • On model of conflict with production
  2. A model of conflict with production (continued)
  3. A model of conflict with natural resource use

Week 9 (Nov 6, 8) - (3 hr)
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  1. Quiz 7: Wednesday Nov 8 at 5h30pm (20 minutes)
    • On model of conflict with production
  2. Empirical paper: Persecution Perpetuated: The Medieval Origins of Anti-Semitic Violence in Nazi Germany, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Voigtlander and Voth (2012)

Week 10 (Nov 13, 15) - (3 hr)
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  1. Quiz 8: Wednesday Nov 15 at 5h30pm (20 minutes)
    • On model of conflict with natural resource use
  2. Models of bargaining failures

Week 11 (Nov 20, 22) - (3 hr)
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  1. Quiz 9: Wednesday Nov 22 at 5h30pm (20 minutes)
    • On empirical paper: Persecution Perpetuated: The Medieval Origins of Anti-Semitic Violence in Nazi Germany
  2. Commodity Price Shocks and Civil Conflict: Evidence from Colombia, Review of Economic Studies, Dube and Vargas (2013)

Week 12 (Nov 27, 29) - (3 hr)
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  1. Quiz 10: Wednesday Nov 29 at 5h30pm (20 minutes)
    • On models of bargaining failures
  2. Empirical paper: US Food Aid and Civil Conflict, American Economic Review, Nunn and Qian (2014)

Week 13 (Dec 4, 6) - (3 hr)
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  1. Quiz 11: Wednesday Dec 6 at 5h30pm (20 minutes)
    • On empirical paper: Commodity Price Shocks and Civil Conflict: Evidence from Colombia
Table Of Contents

Important dates:

Topics covered and readings:

Week 1 (Sept 6) - Intro to conflict economics (1.5 hr)

Week 2 (Sept 11, 13) - Property rights and conflict (3 hr)

Week 3 (Sept 18, 20) - Transaction costs - Empirical analysis in economics (3 hr)

Week 4 (Sept 25, 27) - Banking and Crime in Costa Rica - Mining and Conflict in Colombia (3 hr)

Week 5 (Oct 2, 4) - (3 hr)

Week 6 (Oct 11) - (1.5 hr)

Week 7 (Oct 16, 18) - (3 hr)

Reading week (Oct 23-27)

Week 8 (Oct 30, Nov 1) - (3 hr)

Week 9 (Nov 6, 8) - (3 hr)

Week 10 (Nov 13, 15) - (3 hr)

Week 11 (Nov 20, 22) - (3 hr)

Week 12 (Nov 27, 29) - (3 hr)

Week 13 (Dec 4, 6) - (3 hr)