Post-War Recovery and the Role of Markets: Policy Insights from Six Years of Research

Abstract

Markets and private sector development are considered central to the recovery of economies and people's livelihoods after conflict. But the specific ways in which they shape this process, and the question of how governments and development partners might best support market resuscitation, are patchily evidenced and poorly understood. The Secure Livelihoods Research Consortium was established in 2011 as a cross-country research programme tasked with asking and answering questions about state-building, service delivery and livelihoods in conflict-affected situations. As part of its broad agenda of livelihoods research from 2011 to 2017, the Consortium undertook a specific investigation of the role that markets, and people's engagement with them, play in processes of post-conflict livelihood recovery, ultimately with a view to informing policies and programmes that are fit for purpose. This Policy Insights paper summarises the main findings and policy recommendations emerging from a synthesis of the Consortium's market studies, drawing also on key evidence and insights from the wider literature.There is a compelling case for a form of economics that cares deeply about the role of institutions, the quality rather than just quantity of economic opportunity, and - perhaps most significantly - the complex combination of factors that defines the demand for different people's labour.

Published in

Global Policy
2018, Volume: 9, number: 2, pages: 264-275
Publisher: WILEY

SLU Authors

• Pain, Adam

  • Department of Urban and Rural Development, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG8 Decent work and economic growth
SDG10 Reduced inequalities
SDG16 Peace, justice and strong institutions


UKÄ Subject classification

Economics
Globalization Studies


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1758-5899.12560

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/95320