Violent Conflict and Human Development in Latin America

This paper is concerned with identifying the main costs that violent conflict has had for human development in Colomiba, El Salvador and Guatemala. A first section refers to the difficulties involved in measuring these costs, taking into account different measurement methods, statistical problems and intangible costs. The second part of the paper briefly describes the basic characteristics of conflict in Colombia, El Salvador and Guatemala. The third part then identifies the impact of violent conflict on human development in these countries, with emphasis on economic and social development, while taking into account distributional questions. This is a first draft subject to revision.