Long-Run Perspectives on Crime and Conflict
Towards a New Network for Economists and Historians of Crime and Conflict
Long-Run Perspectives on Crime and Conflict (LRPCC) has as its principal objective to establish a new group with the aim of creating opportunities for economists and social science historians of crime and conflict to network and collaborate on existing and future research. An important feature of the group will be its interdisciplinary nature, bridging researchers with backgrounds in economics, history, criminology, penology and beyond. The ultimate aims are to facilitate high quality research that changes the established knowledge in this field, create and exploit new datasets that can benefit the research community more broadly, and engage with think tanks, policymakers and law enforcement agencies in finding the answers to key questions regarding criminal behaviour, its causes and its effects.
Though crime and conflict can be thought as two distinct areas of research, this should not the case. Criminal groups and profit-driven gangs are accountable for a substantial portion of violence in areas of armed conflict. Profits from criminal activity are used to finance rebel groups. And states weakened by conflict represent a fertile ground for corruption and shadow markets. For this reason we believe that micro- and macro- criminal activities are linked together and thus a broader approach can offer policy insights on how to deal with them more effectively.
Recently, there has been an increased interest in economic history amongst academics, policymakers and the media, stimulated not least by current economic and financial crises. By adopting a long-run approach to the study of crime and conflict, we aim to understand how policy choices made in very different times and places can influence economic outcomes today, and thus we hope to inform policy decisions taken in the future.
Though crime and conflict can be thought as two distinct areas of research, this should not the case. Criminal groups and profit-driven gangs are accountable for a substantial portion of violence in areas of armed conflict. Profits from criminal activity are used to finance rebel groups. And states weakened by conflict represent a fertile ground for corruption and shadow markets. For this reason we believe that micro- and macro- criminal activities are linked together and thus a broader approach can offer policy insights on how to deal with them more effectively.
Recently, there has been an increased interest in economic history amongst academics, policymakers and the media, stimulated not least by current economic and financial crises. By adopting a long-run approach to the study of crime and conflict, we aim to understand how policy choices made in very different times and places can influence economic outcomes today, and thus we hope to inform policy decisions taken in the future.
Organising Committee:
- University of Cardiff: Iain Long
- Queen's University Belfast: Chris Colvin and Arcangelo Dimico
- University of St Andrews: Eoin McLaughlin
- Trinity College Dublin: Gaia Naciso
- University of York: Giacomo de Luca
- University of California, Merced: Rowena Gray