The GLO Cluster on Conflict focuses on the study and analysis of conflict from a political economy perspective. Intrastate armed conflict and civil wars, insurgencies and violent rebellions, uprisings, domestic and transnational terrorism, interstate war and armed confrontations are all subjects of interest for GLO’s Conflict cluster. The interdisciplinary approach to the study of conflict and organized violence focuses on themes such as the causes and outcomes of conflict, conflict dynamics and conflict resolution, its socioeconomic and political consequences for both states and people, the multidimensional costs and long-term developmental impact of conflict, victimization of ethnic and religious minorities.
The GLO Conflict Cluster aims to bring together academic researchers and practitioners from national governments, international organizations and NGOs. It is linked to the Conflict section of the “Handbook of Labor, Human Resources and Population Economics”.
Cluster Lead: Christos Kollias


Activities: Under the leadership of Christos Kollias as Section Editor of the “Handbook of Labor, Human Resources and Population Economics” (see also LINK) for the Section “Conflict“, the cluster develops the field by generating 20 chapters covering major aspects of the field from a human resources perspective. Current list of already published papers. More to come in due course.
Some recent publications:
- “You don’t Pay Your Bills You Get No Protection”: A Trump Effect on NATO Members’ Military Expenditures?, K Founta, C Kollias, P Tzeremes, Peace Economics, Peace Science and Public Policy 2025, 31 (2), 145-160
- The 2015 Refugee Crisis and Institutional Trust in European Countries, A Economou, C Kollias, Social Indicators Research, 2024, 173 (2), 377-396
- Militarization, globalization and liberal democracy: a nexus?, C Kollias, P Tzeremes, Review of Economics and Political Science, 2024, 9 (1), 58-76
- Pei, Q., Long, Y., Lin, X. (2023). Climate Change in Historical Perspective: Violence, Conflict, and Migration. In: Zimmermann, K.F. (eds) Handbook of Labor, Human Resources and Population Economics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57365-6_389-1
Closed in 2025. GLO thanks Cluster Lead Tilman Brück for his support over the years.
The GLO Cluster on Labor in Conflict, Fragile and Emergency Areas focuses on the economics of labor supply and demand and the functioning of labor markets in areas of extreme uncertainty and weak institutions. An increasing share of the poorest people in the world live under the shadow of violent conflict, weak institutions or humanitarian emergencies. Their behavior and welfare and the means to support these people effectively is not very well understood academically, in part as a result of the poor availability of data in this field. Recent advances in this field have focused on understanding the impact of conflict on human capital, analyzing how employment and entrepreneurship can contribute to peacebuilding, learning about the interactions between conflict and migration, and the development of tools of conduct rigorous impact evaluations in conflict and fragile Areas. The GLO Cluster will support efforts to improve data collection and analysis in areas affected by conflict, suffering from weak governance or from humanitarian emergencies, bringing together academic researchers and practitioners from national governments, international organizations and NGOs.
Cluster Lead: Tilman Brück

2020 activities:
- GLO Discussion Paper No. 450 Names and Behavior in a War – Download PDF by Jurajda, Štěpán & Kovač, Dejan
2019 activities:
- GLO Discussion Paper No. 334 Conflict Exposure and Economic Welfare in Nigeria – Download PDF by Odozi, John Chiwuzulum & Oyelere, Ruth Uwaifo
2018 activities:
- GLO Discussion Paper No. 279 War and Social Attitudes – Download PDF by Child, Travers Barclay & Nikolova, Elena
- GLO Discussion Paper No. 223 The Long-Run and Gender-Equalizing Impacts of School Access: Evidence from the First Indochina War – Download PDF by Dang, Hai-Anh H. & Hoang, Trung X. & Nguyen, Ha
- GLO Discussion Paper No. 217 The role of conflict in sex discrimination: The case of missing girls – Download PDF by Mavisakalyan, Astghik & Minasyan, Anna
Employment policies and conflict
- Can employment build peace? A pseudo-meta-analysis of employment programmes in Africa by Neil TN Ferguson, Eleonora Nillesen, Tilman Brück, Economics Letters 180 (2019), 99-101.
- Guns and Butter? Fighting Violence with the Promise of Development by Gaurav Khanna, Laura Zimmermann, Journal of Development Economics, 124 (2017), 120-141. See also.
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