Refugee camps – a lasting legacy? Evidence on long-term health impact

Olive Nsababera

Working Paper Series from Department of Economics, University of Sussex Business School

Abstract: This paper examines the long-term impact of refugee camps on the health of local residents in Tanzania. Taking height-for-age z-score (HAZ) as a proxy for health, the paper exploits the fact that different birth cohorts were exposed to different stages of the camps’ lifecycle. Temporal variation through birth cohorts is combined with geographic variation in a difference-in-difference estimation approach. First, the paper examines the generation that were children at the opening of the camps and are now adults (as of 2012). It finds a negative and localised health effect that has persisted into adulthood. The result is comparable to a 2.9% to 5.9% reduction in adult hourly earnings. However, those that were exposed for a longer duration were less affected suggesting that subsequent economic development around camps mitigated the initial adverse effect. Second, this paper compares the subsequent generation that was born once the camps were already in operation, and those born after camps closed. It finds no observable difference in the HAZ score between those born during camps operation and in the post-camp period.

Keywords: refugees; child health; Tanzania (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I15 J13 O10 O15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dev, nep-ene, nep-lab and nep-mig
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Related works:
Journal Article: Refugee camps – A lasting legacy? Evidence on long-term health impact (2020)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sus:susewp:0919

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