We investigate the impact of climate shocks on farmer-herder violence, using geolocalized data on conflict events for Africa, 1997-2014. We find that a one degree temperature increase yields a 54% increase in conflict probability in mixed areas populated by both farmers and herders (versus 17% in non-mixed areas). Quantifying the impact of projected climate change in 2040, we find that -when factoring in the magnifying effect of mixed settlements- annual conflicts are predicted to rise by a third. Drawing on a fine-grained analysis of groups' mobility patterns, we show that resource competition is a major driver of farmer-herder violence.

We study how news coverage of immigrant criminality impacts voting in one of the most controversial referendums in recent years—the 2009 Swiss minaret ban. We combine a comprehensive crime detection data set with detailed information on newspaper coverage. We first document a large upward distortion in media reporting of immigrant crime during the prereferendum period. Exploiting quasi-random variations in crime incidence, we find a positive first-order effect of news coverage on support for the ban. Our quantification shows that, in absence of the media bias, the pro-ban vote would have decreased from 57.6% to 53.5% at the national level.