Money is a bad option

Some options are in fact bad options. They won’t or don’t provide the results you want or expect. This is not a crisis. It is an opportunity for testing and learning faster.

Money is a bad option

Money is not an effective counter to conflict or violence. If giving money is your option for reducing violence or maintaining lack of violence, go back and try again. The evidence is that money incentivizes toward violence, not away from it. Why?

Money seems to be bound up with respect and fairness. Those who do not receive it perceive they are being treated differently and as though they matter less (Different Value for Different Lives). Money for “nothing” (no apparent goods or services) also looks like Ignoring the Rules. Money almost always spurs Competition among people or groups of people. This often leads to Suspicion, Anger, and Fear.

Money brought into a conflict zone creates an incentive to maintain low-level violence or conflict so as to maintain the flow of money. If low-level violence is not enough to maintain the flow, then expect some major flare-ups until the money resumes.

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