Is Food Aid Helpful or Harmful in Conflict-Affected Areas?

Oct 9, 2014 | Moses Jackson, New Security Beat
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A study published in the American Economic Review offers macro-level quantitative support for critics’ claims that food aid, which is often prone to theft or capture by armed groups, can undermine its own objectives by sparking or fueling violence – particularly in places with a history of recent conflict, like Somalia and Afghanistan. Co-authors Nathan Nunn and Nancy Qian of Harvard and Yale, respectively, examine factors related to U.S. wheat production, which comprises the lion’s share of food aid globally, and the onset and duration of intra- and inter-state armed conflict in 125 countries over 36 years. They address a number of possible alternative explanations and confounding factors and conclude that increases in U.S. food aid tend to prolong civil conflicts already underway. They do not, however, find strong evidence linking food aid to conflicts between states or the onset of new conflicts.