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Health and Civil War in Rural Burundi

Author

Listed:
  • Tom Bundervoet

    (Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Belgium)

  • Philip Verwimp

    (Fund for Scientific Research (FWO), University of Antwerp)

  • Richard Akresh

    (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)

Abstract

We combine household survey data with event data on the timing and location of armed conflicts to examine the impact of Burundi’s civil war on children’s health status. The identification strategy exploits exogenous variation in the war’s timing across provinces and the exposure of children’s birth cohorts to the fighting. After controlling for province of residence, birth cohort, individual and household characteristics, and province-specific time trends, we find an additional month of war exposure decreases children’s height for age z-scores by 0.047 standard deviations compared to non-exposed children. The effect is robust to specifications exploiting alternative sources of exogenous variation.

Suggested Citation

  • Tom Bundervoet & Philip Verwimp & Richard Akresh, 2008. "Health and Civil War in Rural Burundi," Research Working Papers 5, MICROCON - A Micro Level Analysis of Violent Conflict.
  • Handle: RePEc:mcn:rwpapr:5
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    File URL: http://www.microconflict.eu/publications/RWP5_TB_PV_RA.pdf
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Child health; economic shocks; stunting; Africa; civil war;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development

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