https://www.stephenoconnell.org/tags/social-cohesion/Recent content in Social Cohesion on Stephen D. O'ConnellHugoenThu, 02 Jul 2026 18:01:10 -0400https://www.stephenoconnell.org/project/economic-recovery-social-cohesion-iraq/Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://www.stephenoconnell.org/project/economic-recovery-social-cohesion-iraq/<p>How does the uneven distribution of economic recovery affect social cohesion after war? While new economic opportunities can bind communities together, inequality may generate resentment among those left behind. We study a $2,000 capital grant program in post-conflict Iraq, measuring economic outcomes and seven dimensions of social cohesion. We designed a randomized controlled trial to identify the direct effects of the grants among beneficiaries and indirect effects on their first-degree social ties and professional peers. Beneficiaries experience large economic gains that strengthen over time (a 24.6 percentage point increase in business ownership and 0.81 SD higher business revenues by twelve months), alongside improved trust and reduced grievances and perceived competition toward their community. Early increases in trade, debt, and transfers between beneficiaries and their professional peers, consistent with local sharing norms, fade by twelve months. Social ties and professional peers report persistent directed grievance toward the specific beneficiary with whom they are connected (−0.21 SD for professional peers, −0.18 SD for social ties; q &lt; 0.01 at both six and twelve months), but no changes in directed trust and contact allow us to rule out an overall deterioration in dyadic relationships. Their general attitudes and behaviors toward the broader community, including trust, civic engagement, and inclusion, are unchanged across both waves, with 95% confidence intervals excluding indirect exposure effects larger than 0.20 SD. These results show that the social cost of uneven recovery is concentrated in directed, tie-level perceptions rather than in non-recipients&rsquo; general attitudes.</p>https://www.stephenoconnell.org/project/capital-grants-employers-employees-iraq/Thu, 01 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://www.stephenoconnell.org/project/capital-grants-employers-employees-iraq/<p>This project studies how economic recovery affects socially cohesive attitudes and how its effects extend through social and economic networks via indirect exposure. In societies emerging from conflict, the benefits of growth and development may be unevenly distributed, creating or exacerbating inequalities. We study this process through the lens of a high-value capital grant program for small- and medium-sized enterprises in post-conflict Iraq, where material competition and grievances are a source of social tensions. The program supports business growth and employment creation with large capital grants (averaging $16,000), and we measure effects on socially cohesive attitudes using surveys of business owners, their employees, and owners&rsquo; social ties and professional peers. A pre-existing employee-employer register allows us to measure effects on the social attitudes of workers and to detect changes in socially cohesive attitudes among workers expected to benefit and lose as a result of the turnover induced by the program.</p>