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This paper adopts an instrumental variable approach to uncover the impact of variations in minimum temperature on emergence and severity of actual violence through the effect on food availability, captured by rice crops per capita. The link between increase in minimum temperature and rice crops is suggested by natural science literature. We use Indonesia as a case study over the period 1990-2003. Results show that an increase of the minimum temperature during the core month of the "wet planting season", i.e. December, determines an increase in violence fuelled by the reduction in future rice production per capita.

We empirically investigate the existence of spatial autocorrelation between military dictatorships in Sub-Saharan Africa from 1977 through 2007. We apply a Bayesian SAR probit regression, extended to a pooled model. We find a robust and positive spatial autocorrelation coefficient, which shows a spatial concentration of military autocracies. In particular, in the aftermath of Cold War military regimes cluster in the central region. Among covariates, interestingly, foreign aid shows a positive association with military regimes during the Cold War while it turns to exhibit a negative association after 1989. With regard to other economic covariates, we find that: a) there is a negative association between GDP per capita and the existence of a military autocracy; b) a larger manufacturing sector is associated with a smaller probability of a military rule; c) a larger mining sector is associated with a higher likelihood of military rules; d) trade openness reduces the likelihood of militarization.

This article outlines pillars of peace economics and peaceful economics policies. It first highlights Kenneth Boulding's contribution to peace economics. In particular, substantial attention is paid to his conception of three systems that govern social life, namely the exchange system, the threat system, and the integrative system. Examples are produced to describe the differences between and among them. Second, in light of Boulding's views, a workable definition of peace is proposed and associated suggestions for peaceful economic policy are made. Three aspects are underlined: The establishment of consensual democracies, the setting of a novel economic policy target—namely the ratio of public education expenditure to military expenditure—and the pursuit of stricter regulations on the international arms trade.