Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies Center for International Security and Cooperation Stanford University


A U.S. soldier in Basra, Iraq, 2009.
Photo credit: Reuters



October 4, 2011 - CISAC, FSI Stanford Announcement

A new study looks at the economics of counterinsurgency

A new study by Joseph Felter, Jacob Shapiro, and Eli Berman, finds that the U.S. counterinsurgency strategy in Iraq and Afghanistan, which  focuses on working with local populations on small, community-based projects like digging wells or paving rural roads, has reduced violence. Researchers found no evidence, however, that larger projects had the same effect. Read the study below. 




Topics: Economics | Afghanistan | Iraq