Aerial bombardment and educational attainment

Kien Le and My Nguyen

International Review of Applied Economics, 2020, vol. 34, issue 3, 361-383

Abstract: This paper provides evidence that the Allied bombing of Vietnam, the longest and heaviest aerial bombardment in history, imposed detrimental ramifications on educational attainment and future labor market outcomes of school-age individuals. By exploiting the plausibly exogenous district-by-cohort variation in bomb destruction under a difference-in-differences framework, we find that an increase in bomb intensity leads to significantly fewer educational years completed and lower future earnings for school-age children exposed to the bombardment. We further show that both the supply-side factors (inadequate school security and the lack of teachers) and the demand-side factors (residential casualties, restricted access to healthcare, damaged properties and increased reliance on welfare assistance) could be potential mechanisms driving the long-term consequences of aerial bombardment. Our findings underline the importance of conflict prevention and post-conflict reconstruction in promoting sustainable development.

Date: 2020
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (20)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/02692171.2020.1736012 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
Working Paper: Aerial Bombardment and Educational Attainment (2018)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:irapec:v:34:y:2020:i:3:p:361-383

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/CIRA20

DOI: 10.1080/02692171.2020.1736012

Access Statistics for this article

International Review of Applied Economics is currently edited by Professor Malcolm Sawyer

More articles in International Review of Applied Economics from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().