Research Seminar by Prof. Hans CHRISTENSEN

Department : Accounting and Management Control

Speaker : Hans CHRISTENSEN (University of Chicago Booth) 

Room : Building V Ramanantsoa 

Zoom link:  https://hec-fr.zoom.us/j/94357965853

“Can Audits Shift the Battleground? Supply Chain

Certifications and Conflict Dynamics in the Congo”

Abstract:

We analyze how the audit regime for artisanal and small-scale gold

mining—central to the Dodd-Frank Act’s conflict minerals provision—influences

conflict dynamics in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Dodd-Frank

enactment did not significantly reduce conflict in gold mining areas or weaken the

positive association between conflict and gold prices, suggesting no average

deterrence of armed-group financing from small-scale gold mining. This null

average effect masks strategic adaptation to avoid adverse audit outcomes. After

initial audit visits, violence is displaced away from audited mines, which also

experience migration-driven economic growth, with no corresponding change in

conflict intensity at the broader territory level. Though based on a small, contextspecific

sample of audits, the evidence suggests that supply-chain auditing can yield

tangible local benefits even when strategic adaptation limits broader relief.