Engineering Informal Institutions: Long-Run Impacts of Alternative Dispute Resolution on Violence and Property Rights in Liberia

Informal institutions govern property rights and disputes when formal systems are weak. Effective informal should help people reach maintain bargains, minimizing violence. Can outside organizations engineer persistent institutional change? Will this strengthen investment? We experimentally evaluate a United Nations civil society mass education campaign to promote alternative dispute resolution practices norms in rural Liberia, where violent land common. Prior work showed drop violence unresolved within one year. return after three years test for sustained impacts mechanisms. Treated communities report large, drops slight shift toward nonviolent norms. residents also larger farms, although overall effects on investment mixed. Politically connected more secure rights, while those with fewer connections feel less secure. Sustained engineering is feasible, but politics shapes distributional outcomes.