A microeconomic perspective on violent conflicts and peace

Alongside health, peace is a fundamental prerequisite for human development. However, it seems infinitely more difficult to define, measure, or influence peace and its individual experience than to do so for health. What cannot be measured often does not count at all. Therefore, the role of peace in human development is regularly and systematically disregarded in economics, with decisive consequences for the analysis and management of our economic, political, and social institutions. In fact, fragility seems to be on the rise in the world today, despite the immense wealth that the world is simultaneously generating. Never have we had so many resources at our disposal to help people; never has the survival of humanity seemed so threatened. To resolve this paradox, this article explains the insights that a microeconomic perspective on violent conflicts and peace can provide. To this end, several concepts are defined and explained using empirical case studies.