Victims of electoral violence and their children experience irreversible stunting: The long-term welfare effects of electoral violence

Roxana Gutiérrez-Romero

No 364, HiCN Working Papers from Households in Conflict Network

Abstract: Despite the extensive literature on civil conflict, little is known about the medium- and long-term effects of electoral violence on young children and adolescents. This paper shows that electoral violence of low scale yet recursive nature has a detrimental effect on the height of children and adolescents of affected households. Our identification strategy uses the variation of electoral violence across time and space in Kenya during 1992−2013. We find that infants and adolescents exposed to electoral violence are shorter as adults if compared to similar people not exposed to violence during their growing age. We also find inter-generation effects as the children of the victims of electoral violence, particularly boys, also have reduced height-for-age. Higher food prices and changes in diet experienced during outbreaks of violence are important mechanisms. No impact is found on the educational attainment of school-aged pupils as electoral violence has been concentrated during the school holidays.

Keywords: electoral violence; household victimization; height-for-age; education; Kenya; Africa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D74 I1 J24 O55 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 34 pages
Date: 2021-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dev, nep-hea and nep-ure
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hic:wpaper:364

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