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Professor Hans B. Christensen
Chookaszian Family Professor of Accounting
Booth School of Business
The University of Chicago

We analyze how the audit regime for artisanal and small-scale gold mining—central to the Dodd-Frank Act’s conflict minerals provision—influences conflict dynamics in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Dodd-Frank enactment did not significantly reduce conflict in gold mining areas or weaken the positive association between conflict and gold prices, suggesting no average deterrence of armed-group financing from small-scale gold mining. This null average effect masks strategic adaptation to avoid adverse audit outcomes. After initial audit visits, violence is displaced away from audited mines, which also experience migration-driven economic growth, with no corresponding change in conflict intensity at the broader territory level. Though based on a small, context-specific sample of audits, the evidence suggests that supply-chain auditing can yield tangible local benefits even when strategic adaptation limits broader relief.

The paper is coauthored with Samuel Chang.