There is nothing more damaging to a nation’s economy than a war on its own soil. But the way we think about the long-term economic consequences of war is often tied up in political instability and reconstruction and the cost of care for veterans. That’s all correct, but my guest this week says we’ve overlooked something: The long-term damage to agriculture.
In her recent article in the American Journal of Political Science, Erin Lin suggests that unexploded bombs create long-term threats to rural livelihoods. In Cambodia, she writes, the most fertile land has been rendered the least productive.
Erin Lin is an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at Ohio State University.
