Nicaragua: The Political Economy of Social Reform and Armed Conflict

The Political Economy of Political Survival: External Debt Accumulation and Default During Civil Conflict

“…The development projects represent an important example of public goods provision by a state during civil conflict. U.S. support for the Contras restricted access to aid and other financing from Western states leaving Nicaragua facing an acute shortage of external financing (Fitzgerald & Grigsby, 2001). It was only with the end of the conflict that Nicaragua regained access to large-scale financing.…”

The costs of organized violence: a review of the evidence

“…Furthermore, other government revenues and expenditures-and, therefore, the public goods they supply-tend to decrease with the length of the war. In a sample of six countries, for example, Fitzgerald et al (2001) report that tax revenues during war decreased or remained flat relative to GDP in five (Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, Sudan, and Uganda) and increased in only one (Nicaragua). Then, reductions in the fiscal capacity of states to provide for public goods such as basic health care and other social services induces various indirect effects on the population to withstand disease, injury, malnutrition, and poverty.…”

“…For Mozambique, which experienced war continually from 1964 to the early 1990s, Bruck (2001) has made the following estimates: From 1980 to 1993 the stock of cattle had decreased 20 percent; from 1983 to 1991 almost 60 percent of primary schools were closed or destroyed; and overall, 40 percent of immobile capital was nonoperational and destroyed. For Nicaragua, Fitzgerald and Grigsby (2001) have estimated that, over the years of most intense conflict (1987)(1988)(1989), the cumulative total economic damages were equal to about one year's GDP. Collier et al (2003) also reports estimates of capital flight for countries in civil war.…”