TITLE:
Crime, Self-Protection and Business Growth in Cote d’Ivoire
AUTHORS:
Assi José Carlos Kimou
KEYWORDS:
Crime, Private Protection, Business, Post-Conflict, Cote d’Ivoire
JOURNAL NAME:
Modern Economy,
Vol.6 No.10,
October
30,
2015
ABSTRACT: Cote d’Ivoire was considered
as an island of stability and economic prosperity in a region of stagnation, and
political turmoil. The situation was reversed in the early 2000, when a decade of
instability led to a surge in crime and violence. Yet, very little was known about
the economic consequences of crime at the firm level. This paper tested empirically
the impact of crime on business activity in Cote d’Ivoire. Using a recent World
Bank enterprise survey dataset and a Heckman two-step procedure we showed that crime
and private provision of security negatively impacted firms’ profit and investment.