The Impact of Armed Conflict on Economic Performance: Evidence from Rwanda

Pieter Serneels and Marijke Verpoorten

No 6737, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Important gaps remain in the understanding of the economic consequences of civil war. Focusing on the conflict in Rwanda in the early 90s, and using micro data to carry out econometric analysis, this paper finds that households and localities that experienced more intense conflict are lagging behind in terms of consumption six years after the conflict, a finding that is robust to taking into account the endogeneity of violence. Significantly different returns to land and labour are observed between zones that experienced low and high intensity conflict which is consistent with on-going recovery. Distinguishing between civil war and genocide, the findings also provide evidence that these returns, and by implication the process of recovery, depend on the form of violence.

Keywords: Rwanda; economic growth; human capital; civil war; genocide (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E2 O0 O5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 41 pages
Date: 2012-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-afr and nep-dev
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (20)

Published - published in: Journal of Conflict Resolution, 2015, 59 (4), 555-592

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Related works:
Working Paper: The impact of armed conflict on economic performance: Evidence from Rwanda (2012)
Working Paper: The impact of armed conflict on economic performance. Evidence from Rwanda (2012)
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