--- title: "Farming Then Fighting: The Relationship Between Idle Time and Social Conflict" authors: ["Matthew DiGiuseppe", "Roos Haer", "Babak RezaeeDaryakenari"] year: 2024 status: "Published" venue: "Political Science Research and Methods, 12(4), pp. 897-906" topics: ["Conflict & Security"] doi: "10.1017/psrm.2024.6" url: "https://www.matthewdigiuseppe.com/papers/farming-then-fighting-relationship-between.md" links: {"Link": "https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/political-science-research-and-methods/article/farming-then-fighting-agricultural-idle-time-and-armed-conflict/8E9F95D3CF22AA1C061696BF735D380B"} full_text: false --- # Farming Then Fighting: The Relationship Between Idle Time and Social Conflict DiGiuseppe, M., van der Haer, R., & Rezaee, B. (2024). Farming Then Fighting: The Relationship Between Idle Time and Social Conflict. Political Science Research and Methods, 12(4), pp. 897-906. - Status: Published - Topics: Conflict & Security - DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/psrm.2024.6 - Link: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/political-science-research-and-methods/article/farming-then-fighting-agricultural-idle-time-and-armed-conflict/8E9F95D3CF22AA1C061696BF735D380B - Listed on: https://www.matthewdigiuseppe.com/#research ## Abstract Policymakers and scholars have long proposed that willingness to participate in armed conflict is influenced by citizens' income-earning opportunities. Testing this opportunity cost mechanism has led to mixed results. One reason for this might be the fact that current proxies can also serve as indicators to test grievance-based theories. In this study, we construct a more suitable measure. We use crop calendars and crop location data to build an index of agricultural idle time for first administration units on the African continent from 1990 to 2017. We test the explanatory power of this measure by examining its relationship with armed conflict. Our results show that agricultural idle time increases the probability of observing armed conflict by more than 20 percent.