Can Audits Shift the Battleground? Supply Chain Certifications and Conflict Dynamics in the Congo
Participer
Département : Comptabilité Contrôle de Gestion
Intervenant : Professeur Hans CHRISTENSEN (University of Chicago Booth)
Salle : Ramanantsoa (bâtiment V)
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.