Amidst Sahel's unrest: Labor market and consumption effects of Malian refugee camps in rural Niger

Fatou Fall

No 1218, Ruhr Economic Papers from RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen

Abstract: Instability and ongoing conflict across the Sahel have led to conflict-induced migration and the displacement of populations across borders. As host countries face the challenges associated with refugee inflows, it becomes increasingly important to understand how these movements affect the host communities that are indirectly impacted by the conflict. By combining geocoded household panel data from Niger with administrative data on refugee settlements, I exploit spatial variation in exposure to refugee camps to assess how refugee exposure affects labor market outcomes, labor on household plots, and household consumption among households in areas hosting refugees. A higher exposure to refugees increases the likelihood that households diversify into secondary and non-farm activities, decreases family labor on plot, and improves the Food Consumption Score during the harvest season. Collectively, these results suggest that refugee inflows can generate positive local economic effects in rural settings, potentially through increased demand and humanitarian aid.

Keywords: Refugee impacts; Labor markets; Consumption; Rural households; Niger (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J43 O12 O15 R23 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/343539/1/1982434287.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
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:zbw:rwirep:343539

DOI: 10.4419/96973403

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Ruhr Economic Papers from RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics ().