The effect of aid on civil war has been widely debated. In this paper we introduce a new framework to evaluate the effectiveness of aid on conflict. Using proxies for the evolution of conflict we show that over the course of the conflict aid significantly affects the escalation and de-escalation...

We argue that the partition of ethnic groups following the Scramble for Africa does not itself matter for development in Africa. It matters only when the partitioned groups are relatively small because small groups lack political representation which may promote ethnic mobilization and foster...