Refugees carry food at a distribution center run by the World Food Programme at Kakuma Refugee Camp in Turkana, Kenya. After U.S. aid that paid for the food was curtailed, protests broke out. Andrew Kasuku/AP hide caption
Does foreign aid have an impact on violence — on wars, on street fights, on random attacks?
The answer is that yes, it does — in two opposite, and perhaps counterintuitive, ways. On the one hand, aid can provide jobs and resources. And that, in turn, can reduce the incentives for people to engage in violent actions.
