Violence exposure and poverty: Evidence from the Burundi civil war

Marion Mercier (1, 2) , Rama Lionel Ngenzebuke (3) , Philip Verwimp (3)

1 DIAL - Développement, institutions et analyses de long terme
2 LEDa - Laboratoire d'Economie de Dauphine
3 ULB - Université libre de Bruxelles

We investigate the relationship between exposure to the Burundi Civil War and household (food) poverty, using a three-wave household-level panel matched with data on local-level violence. We find that households living in localities exposed to the war have been subsequently more likely to be poor than non-exposed households. Within-household estimations, controlling for time-varying heterogeneity at the province level, confirm the positive impact of violence exposure on household poverty. We investigate some of the potential mechanisms at play in the violence – poverty nexus, and the role of violence exposure in household poverty dynamics over time. Our results notably suggest that the destruction of physical capital, as well as a shift of exposed households out of non-farm activities, shape poverty dynamics and lower their chances of durably remaining out of poverty.

Mots clés: Civil war; Poverty; Panel data; Burundi

Domaines: Économie et finance quantitative [q-fin]

Marion Mercier, Rama Lionel Ngenzebuke, Philip Verwimp. Violence exposure and poverty: Evidence from the Burundi civil war. Journal of Comparative Economics, 2020, ⟨10.1016/j.jce.2020.04.005⟩. ⟨hal-02895235⟩