Research

Employing Business and Markets to Serve Communities Emerging from Conflict

Grants to Support Faculty Fellows' Research
Grant Year
2018-2019

Leading scholars have shown how economic growth diminishes the threat of war, while poverty and hopelessness create the underlying conditions for conflict. Our project will explore the following question: what role does increasing jobs through businesses and markets play in the prevention, reduction, or recovery from conflict in its many forms. We aim first to investigate this hypothesis by developing 30 case studies to chronicle the experiences of the Business on the Frontlines (BOTFL) program over the last ten years, both positive and negative, in creating sustainable businesses to drive economic opportunities in places without security. Utilizing the insights from the case studies, we will test the hypotheses in the field through randomized control trials on the ongoing implementation of business+ security interventions recommended by two former BOTFL teams in Colombia and Brazil.