Civil War and the Welfare of Extended Households: Evidence from Longitudinal Data from Burundi

Philip Verwimp and Tom Bundervoet

No 70, HiCN Working Papers from Households in Conflict Network

Abstract: We analyse the effect of violence and rebellion on the evolution of household welfare. We collected new panel data for Burundi (1999-2007) in which we reinterviewed original as well as newly formed households (split-offs). We use several definitions of the household as unit of analysis and test for resource pooling between parental and split-off households. Focusing on the effect of civil war, we find that villagelevel violence, measured as the number of battle-related deaths or wounded reduces consumption growth by 9% for every 25 casualties. Joining an armed rebel group was a lucrative livelihood strategy: households of which at least one member joined an armed group experienced 41% higher growth in welfare over the study period. Results are robust to alternative variables of civil war shocks and model specifications, including household fixed effects and initial household fixed effects.

Keywords: consumption; growth; violence; civil war; panel data; Africa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C81 I32 N47 O12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 34 pages
Date: 2009-12
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (13)

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