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Guns and roses: flower exports and electoral violence in Kenya

Guns and roses: flower exports and electoral violence in Kenya

Ksoll, Christopher ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6744-6267, Macchiavello, Rocco and Morjaria, Ameet (2021) Guns and roses: flower exports and electoral violence in Kenya. [Working Paper] (Submitted) (doi:10.2139/ssrn.3126456)

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Abstract

Violent conflicts, particularly at election times in Africa, are a common cause of instability and economic disruption. This paper studies how firms react to electoral violence using the case of Kenyan flower exporters during the 2008 post-election violence as an example. Consistent with our theoretical framework, the violence induced a large negative supply shock that reduced exports primarily through workers’ absence and had heterogeneous effects: larger firms and those with direct contractual relationships in export markets suffered smaller production and losses of workers. On the demand side, international buyers were not able to shift sourcing to Kenyan exporters located in areas not directly affected by the violence nor to neighboring Ethiopian suppliers during the violence. Consistent with difficulties in insuring against supply-chain risk
disruptions caused by electoral violence, firms in direct contractual relationships ramp up shipments just before the subsequent 2013 presidential election to mitigate risk.

Item Type: Working Paper
Uncontrolled Keywords: Ethnic violence, flower industry
Subjects: H Social Sciences > HC Economic History and Conditions
H Social Sciences > HS Societies secret benevolent etc
Faculty / School / Research Centre / Research Group: Faculty of Engineering & Science
Faculty of Engineering & Science > Natural Resources Institute
Faculty of Engineering & Science > Natural Resources Institute > Livelihoods & Institutions Department
Faculty of Engineering & Science > Natural Resources Institute > Centre for Society, Environment and Development (CSED)
Faculty of Engineering & Science > Natural Resources Institute > Centre for Society, Environment and Development (CSED) > Climate Change
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Last Modified: 27 Nov 2024 14:39
URI: http://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/31358

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