Nathan Nunn and Nancy Qian's study examines the impact of US food aid on conflict in recipient countries. They use time variation in US wheat production and cross-sectional variation in a country's tendency to receive US food aid to estimate the causal effect. The findings suggest that increased US food aid increases the incidence and duration of civil conflicts but has no significant effect on interstate conflicts or the onset of civil conflicts. The effects are more pronounced in countries with a recent history of civil conflict. The study also highlights the challenges of humanitarian aid, such as theft and misuse, which can fuel conflict. The authors provide a strategy to estimate the causal effect of US food aid on conflict, using a two-stage least squares (2SLS) approach. They find that a 1,000 metric tons (MT) increase in US food aid increases the incidence of civil conflict by 0.25 percentage points, or approximately 4% of the mean incidence of conflict. The study contributes to the literature on foreign aid and conflict, suggesting that aid can prolong smaller-scale civil conflicts.Nathan Nunn and Nancy Qian's study examines the impact of US food aid on conflict in recipient countries. They use time variation in US wheat production and cross-sectional variation in a country's tendency to receive US food aid to estimate the causal effect. The findings suggest that increased US food aid increases the incidence and duration of civil conflicts but has no significant effect on interstate conflicts or the onset of civil conflicts. The effects are more pronounced in countries with a recent history of civil conflict. The study also highlights the challenges of humanitarian aid, such as theft and misuse, which can fuel conflict. The authors provide a strategy to estimate the causal effect of US food aid on conflict, using a two-stage least squares (2SLS) approach. They find that a 1,000 metric tons (MT) increase in US food aid increases the incidence of civil conflict by 0.25 percentage points, or approximately 4% of the mean incidence of conflict. The study contributes to the literature on foreign aid and conflict, suggesting that aid can prolong smaller-scale civil conflicts.