The long-term effects of civil conflicts on education, earnings, and fertility: Evidence from Cambodia

Asad Islam, Chandarany Ouch, Russell Smyth and Liang Wang

Journal of Comparative Economics, 2016, vol. 44, issue 3, 800-820

Abstract: This paper examines the long-term effects of exposure to civil war and genocide on the educational attainment, earnings, and fertility of individuals in Cambodia. Given the well-documented causal links between schooling and labor productivity, it is surprising that past studies show that civil conflicts reduce educational attainment, but generally not earnings of individuals. Using variation in the degree of Cambodians’ exposure to civil conflicts during primary school age, we find that disruption to primary education during civil conflicts decreases educational attainment and earnings, increases fertility, and has negligible effects on health of individuals several decades later. Our findings suggest that the effect of conflict on schooling disruption has adverse consequences on long-term labor productivity and economic development.

Keywords: Civil conflict; Earnings; Fertility; Genocide; Returns to schooling (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I12 I21 J13 J24 O12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (41)

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Working Paper: THE LONG-TERM EFFECTS OF CIVIL CONFLICTS ON EDUCATION, EARNINGS AND FERTILITY: EVIDENCE FROM CAMBODIA (2014)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jcecon:v:44:y:2016:i:3:p:800-820

DOI: 10.1016/j.jce.2015.05.001

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