Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T00:49:03.608Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Endogenous Taxation in Ongoing Internal Conflict: The Case of Colombia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 August 2018

RAFAEL CH ,
JACOB SHAPIRO ,
ABBEY STEELE  and
JUAN F. VARGAS
RAFAEL CH*
Affiliation:
New York University
JACOB SHAPIRO*
Affiliation:
Princeton University
ABBEY STEELE*
Affiliation:
University of Amsterdam
JUAN F. VARGAS*
Affiliation:
Universidad del Rosario
*
Rafael Ch is a Graduate Student, New York University, Wilf Family Department of Politics, 19 West 4th St., Room 230, New York, NY 10009 ([email protected]).
Jacob Shapiro is a Professor of Politics and International Affairs, Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton, NJ 08544 ([email protected]).
Abbey Steele is an Assistant Professor, University of Amsterdam, Department of Political Science. Nieuwe Achtergracht 166, 1018 WV Amsterdam (REC B building) ([email protected]).
Juan F. Vargas is a Professor of Economics, Universidad del Rosario, School of Economics, Calle 12C No 4 - 69, Of. 315, Bogotá ([email protected]).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Recent empirical evidence suggests an ambiguous relationship between internal conflicts, state capacity, and tax performance. In theory, internal conflict should create strong incentives for governments to develop the fiscal capacity necessary to defeat rivals. We argue that one reason that this does not occur is because internal conflict enables groups with de facto power to capture local fiscal and property rights institutions. We test this mechanism in Colombia using data on tax performance and property rights institutions at the municipal level. Municipalities affected by internal conflict have tax institutions consistent with the preferences of the parties dominating local violence. Those suffering more right-wing violence feature more land formalization and higher property tax revenues. Municipalities with substantial left-wing guerrilla violence collect less tax revenue and witness less land formalization. Our findings provide systematic evidence that internal armed conflict helps interest groups capture municipal institutions for their own private benefit, impeding state-building.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 112 , Issue 4 , November 2018 , pp. 996 - 1015
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

We benefited tremendously from excellent comments by Fernando Álvarez, Mario Chacón, Ursula Daxecker, Leopoldo Fergusson, Patrick Kuhn, Livia Schubiger, Pablo Sanguinetti, and seminar participants at CAF’s RED 2015 Workshop in Buenos Aires, the 2015 Empirical Studies of Conflict (ESOC) Annual Meeting, the Uppsala University Research Seminar, the conflict seminar at Konstanz University, the Amsterdam Conflict Club, and the 2017 Subnational State in Latin America Conference at the University of Amsterdam. We acknowledge generous funding from CAF-Development Bank of Latin America, ONR through Grant No. N000141310097, and AFOSR through Grant No. FA9550-09-1-0314. Dario Salcedo provided superb research assistance. Replication material is available on the American Political Science Review Dataverse: https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/PCM2O2.

References

REFERENCES

Acemoglu, Daron, Robinson, James A., and Santos, Rafael J.. 2013. “The Monopoly of Violence: Evidence from Colombia.” Journal of the European Economic Association 11 (1): 5–44.Google Scholar
Albertus, Michael, and Kaplan, Oliver. 2013. “Land Reform as a Counterinsurgency Policy Evidence from Colombia.” Journal of Conflict Resolution 57 (2): 198–231.Google Scholar
Arjona, Ana. 2014. “Wartime Institutions: A Research Agenda.” Journal of Conflict Resolution 58 (5): 1360-8-9.Google Scholar
Arjona, Ana M. 2016. Rebelocracy: Social Order in the Colombian Civil War. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Arjona, Ana M., and Otálora, Laura. 2011. “Presencia vs. violencia: Problemas de medición de la presencia de actores armados en Colombia.” Foco Económico.Google Scholar
Bernal Morales, Andrés. 2014. “Las FARC y la cuestión agraria: de la revolución al pragmatismo.” Razon Pública. October 5, 2014. Accessed November 2017. https://www.razonpublica.com/index.php/conflicto-drogas-y-paz-temas-30/7951-las-farc-y-la-cuestión-agraria-de-la-revolución-al-pragmatismo.htmlGoogle Scholar
Besley, Timothy, and Persson, Torsten. 2008. “Wars and State Capacity.” Journal of the European Economic Association 6 (2-3): 522–30.Google Scholar
Bird, Richard M. 2012. “Subnational Taxation in Large Emerging Countries: BRIC Plus One.” International Center for Public Policy Working Paper 12-01.Google Scholar
Cárdenas, Mauricio, Eslava, Marcela, and Ramírez, Santiago. 2014. “Why Internal Conflict Deteriorates State Capacity: Evidence from Colombian Municipalities.” Defence and Peace Economics 27 (3): 353–77.Google Scholar
Centeno, Miguel A. 2003. Blood and Debt: War and the Nation-State in Latin America. State College, PA: Penn State Press.Google Scholar
Collier, Paul, Elliott, V. L., Hegre, Havard, Hoeffier, Anke, Reynal-Querol, Marta, and Sambanis, Nicholas. 2003. Breaking the Conflict Trap: Civil War and Development Policy. Washington, D.C.: The World Bank.Google Scholar
de Mello, Luiz R. Jr. 2000. “Fiscal Decentralization and Intergovernmental Fiscal Relations: A Cross-Country Analysis.” World Development 28 (2): 365–80.Google Scholar
Departamento Nacional de Planeación. 2016. “Politica para la Adopción e implementación de un catastro multipropósito rural-urbano.” CONPES 3859. Accessed August 2017. https://colaboracion.dnp.gov.co/CDT/Conpes/Económicos/3859.pdfGoogle Scholar
Diaz-Cayeros, Alberto. 2006. Federalism, Fiscal Authority, and Centralization in Latin America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Duncan, Gustavo. 2006. Los señores de la guerra: de paramilitares, Mafiosos y autodefensas en Colombia. Bogotá: Planeta.Google Scholar
Durán, Natalia Herrera. 2012. “Las formas jurídicas de la usurpación de tierras en Colombia.” El Espectador. Accessed January 2017. http://www.elespectador.com/noticias/politica/formas-juridicas-de-usurpacion-de-tierras-colombia-articulo-388632Google Scholar
Eaton, Kent. 2006. “The Downside of Decentralization: Armed Clientelism in Colombia.” Security Studies 15 (4): 533–62.Google Scholar
Echandía, Camilo. 2006. Dos decadas del conflict interno en Colombia: 1986–2006. Bogotá: Universidad de Externado.Google Scholar
Ertman, Thomas. 1997. Birth of the Leviathan: Building States and Regimes in Medieval and Early Modern Europe. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Fergusson, Leopoldo, Robinson, James A., Torvik, Ragnar, and Vargas, Juan F.. 2016. “The Need for Enemies.” The Economic Journal 126 (593): 1018–54.Google Scholar
Fergusson, Leopoldo, Vargas, Juan F., and Vela, Mauricio. 2018. “Sunlight Disinfects? Free Media in Weak Democracies.” Working paper, Universidad El Rosario.Google Scholar
Flores, Thomas Edward. 2014. “Vertical Inequality, Land Reform, and Insurgency in Colombia.” Peace Economics, Peace Science and Public Policy 20 (1): 5–31.Google Scholar
Gibson, Edward L. 2005. “Boundary Control: Subnational Authoritarianism in Democratic Countries.” World Politics 58 (01): 101–32.Google Scholar
Gorski, Philip S. 1993. “The Protestant Ethic Revisited: Disciplinary Revolution and State Formation in Holland and Prussia.” American Journal of Sociology 99 (2): 265–316.Google Scholar
Gutiérrez Sanín, Francisco. 2003. “Heating Up and Cooling Down: Armed Agencies, Civilians, and the Oligopoly of Violence in the Colombian War.” Paper presented at the workshop on Obstacles to Robust Negotiated Settlements, hosted by the Santa Fe Institute and Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá.Google Scholar
Gutiérrez Sanín, Francisco. 2008. “Telling the Difference: Guerrillas and Paramilitaries in the Colombian War.” Politics & Society 36 (1): 3–34.Google Scholar
Gutiérrez Sanín, Francisco. 2010. “Reflexiones a propósito del libro Y refundaron la patria.” In Y refundaron la patria: de cómo mafiosos y políticos reconfiguraron el estado Colombiano, edited by Hernández, Claudia López. Bogotá: Debate, 9–28.Google Scholar
Ibáñez, Ana María, and Muñoz, Juan Carlos. 2011. “La persistencia de la concentración de la tierra en Colombia: Qué pasó entre 2000 y 2010?” Notas de Política (9). https://egob.uniandes.edu.co/images/np9.pdfGoogle Scholar
Imai, Kosuke, Jo, Booil, and Stuart, Elizabeth A.. 2011. “Commentary: Using Potential Outcomes to Understand Causal Mediation Analysis.” Multivariate Behavioral Research 46 (5): 842–54.Google Scholar
Iregui, B. Ana María, Ligia, Melo B., and Ramos, Jorge F.. 2004. “El Impuesto Predial en Colombia: Factores Explicativos del Recaudo.” Banco de la Republica de Colombia, Borradores de Economia 319.Google Scholar
López Hernández, Claudia. 2010. La Refundación de la Patria: De la Teoría a la Evidencia. In Y Refundaron la Patria: De Cómo Mafiosos y Políticos Reconfiguraron el Estado Colombiano, edited by Hernández, Claudia López. Bogotá: Debate, 29–78.Google Scholar
Mampilly, Zachariah Cherian. 2011. Rebel Rulers: Insurgent Governance and Civilian Life During War. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Nuñez, Jairo. 2005. “Diagnóstico Básico de la Situación de los Ingresos por Impuestos del Orden Municipal en Colombia.” Documento CEDE 2005-44.Google Scholar
Pardelli, Giuliana. 2018. “Agrarian Elites, Economic Diversification and Local Fiscal Capacity.” Working paper, Princeton University.Google Scholar
Persson, Torsten, and Tabellini, Guido Enrico. 2002. Political Economics: Explaining Economic Policy. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Reyes Posada, Alejandro. (1991) 2007. “Paramilitares en Colombia: Contexto, aliados, y consecuencias.” In Pasado y presente de la violencia en Colombia (3rd ed.), edited by Sánchez, Gonzalo and Peñaranda, Ricardo. Bogotá: La Carreta Editores, 353–61.Google Scholar
Reyes Posada, Alejandro. 2009. Guerreros y Campesinos: El Despojo de la Tierra en Colombia. Bogotá: Grupo Editorial Norma.Google Scholar
Rodríguez-Franco, Diana. 2016. “Internal Wars, Taxation and State Building.” American Sociological Review 81 (1): 190–213.Google Scholar
Romero, Mauricio. 2000. “Political Identities and Armed Conflict In Colombia: The Case of the Department Of Córdoba.” Beyond Law 7 (21): 81–101.Google Scholar
Romero, Mauricio. 2003. Paramilitares y Autodefensas 1982–2003. Bogotá: IEPRI-Editorial Planeta.Google Scholar
Romero, Mauricio, ed. 2007. Parapolítica: La Ruta de la Expansión Paramilitar y los Acuerdos Políticos. Corporación Nuevo Arco Iris Bogotá: Intermedio Editores.Google Scholar
Ronderos, María Teresa. 2014. Guerras Recicladas: Una Historia Periodística del Paramilitarismo en Colombia. Bogotá: Aguilar.Google Scholar
Sánchez de la Sierra, Raúl. 2017. “On the Origins of the State: Stationary Bandits and Taxation in Eastern Congo.” Working paper, University of California Berkeley. https://raulsanchezdelasierra.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/revised-manuscript.pdfGoogle Scholar
Sánchez, Fabio, and Palau, María del Mar. 2006. “Conflict, Decentralisation and Local Governance in Colombia, 1974–2004.” Documento CEDE.Google Scholar
Sánchez-Talanquer, Mariano. 2018. “One-Eyed State: The Politics of Legibility and Property Taxation.” Working paper, Harvard University.Google Scholar
Scheve, Kenneth, and Stasavage, David. 2012. “Democracy, War, and Wealth: Lessons from Two Centuries of Inheritance Taxation.” American Political Science Review 106 (1): 81–102.Google Scholar
Slater, Dan. 2010. Ordering Power: Contentious Politics and Authoritarian Leviathans in Southeast Asia. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Soifer, Hillel David. 2015. State Building in Latin America. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Spruyt, Hendrik. 1996. The Sovereign State and its Competitors: An Analysis of Systems Change. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Stasavage, David. 2014. “Was Weber Right? The Role of Urban Autonomy in Europe’s Rise.” American Political Science Review 108 (2): 337–54.Google Scholar
Steele, Abbey. 2017. Democracy and Displacement in Colombia’s Civil War. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Steele, Abbey, and Schubiger, Livia I.. Forthcoming. “Democracy and Civil War: The Case of Colombia.” Conflict Management and Peace Science.Google Scholar
Tilly, Charles. 1992. Coercion, Capital, and European States: AD 990-1992. New York: Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar
Verdad Abierta. 2012. “Investigan a Incoder, notarías y Fondo Ganadero de Córdoba por despojo.” Accessed August 2017. http://www.verdadabierta.com/component/content/article/4333-fondo-ganadero-incoder-y-notarias-investigadas-por-despojo-en-cordobaGoogle Scholar
Verdad Abierta. n.d. “La telaraña de los ‘paras’ en Urabá.” Accessed August 2017. http://www.verdadabierta.com/tierras/despojo-de-tierras/3330-la-telarana-de-los-paras-en-urabaGoogle Scholar
Vernon, Henderson, Storeygard, Adam, and Weil, David N.. 2011. “A Bright Idea for Measuring Economic Growth.” American Economic Review 101 (3): 194–199.Google Scholar
Vu, Tuong. 2010. Paths to Development in Asia: South Korea, Vietnam, China, and Indonesia. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Wood, Elisabeth Jean. 2003. Insurgent Collective Action and Civil War in El Salvador. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: PDF

Ch et al. supplementary material

Appendix

Download Ch et al. supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 377.2 KB
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.