How Forced Displacements Caused by a Violent Conflict Affect Wages in Colombia

José Ignacio Gimenez-Nadal (), José Alberto Molina and Edgar Silva Quintero ()
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José Ignacio Gimenez-Nadal: University of Zaragoza
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Jose Ignacio Gimenez-Nadal ()

No 9926, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: In this paper, we analyze how forced displacements caused by violent conflicts affect the wages of displaced workers in Colombia, a country characterized by a long historical prevalence of violent conflicts between the government, the militia group (FARC), drug trafficking, and other crime that affect hundreds of people, forcibly displaced to other regions of the country. Using data from the Quality of Life Survey (2011-2014), we analyze differences in wages between those who were forced to move to other regions, and those who were not forced to move. In our empirical strategy, we take into account that those who were displaced may have characteristics that differ from those who were not forced, and we apply Propensity Score Matching techniques to consider forced displacements exogenous to the individuals. We apply different matching algorithms, and find that forced displacement decreases between 6% and the 22% the wages of males, and between 17% and 37% the wages of females, compared to their non-displaced counterparts. Thus, forced displacements result in poorer labor market outcomes, and the government should explore how public policies may help to alleviate the negative consequences of forced displacements as first step to reduce wage inequalities originated by these conflicts.

Keywords: Propensity Score Matching; wages; forced displacement; Colombia (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J15 J31 R23 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 29 pages
Date: 2016-05
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published - published as 'On the relationship between violent conflict and wages in Colombia' in: Journal of Development Studies, 2019, 55 (4), 473-489

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Working Paper: How Forced Displacements Caused by a Violent Conflict Affect Wages in Colombia (2016)
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