IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/nam/wpaper/1603.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Households in Times of War : Adaptation Strategies during the Nepal Civil War

Author

Listed:
  • François Libois

    (CRED, University of Namur)

Abstract

This paper analyses short and medium term consequences of the Nepalese civil war on rural households livelihoods and on the inter-group distribution of income. Conclusions rely on two very rich datasets: the Nepal Living Standards Survey collected before, during and after the war and data on the number of killings by month and village during the eleven years of the conflict. Using the survey timing as a quasi-natural experiment, results indicate that in the short-run all households loose, but high castes by a larger extent. Short-term coping strategies determine medium term diverging recovery paths. Non-high castes allocate more labour in agriculture and loose more in the medium term. High castes diversify their income sources, notably by relying on migration, which allows them to recover.

Suggested Citation

  • François Libois, 2016. "Households in Times of War : Adaptation Strategies during the Nepal Civil War," Working Papers 1603, University of Namur, Department of Economics.
  • Handle: RePEc:nam:wpaper:1603
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.unamur.be/eco/economie/recherche/wpseries/wp/1603.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2016
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Shemyakina, Olga, 2011. "The effect of armed conflict on accumulation of schooling: Results from Tajikistan," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(2), pages 186-200, July.
    2. Massimo Guidolin & Eliana La Ferrara, 2007. "Diamonds Are Forever, Wars Are Not: Is Conflict Bad for Private Firms?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(5), pages 1978-1993, December.
    3. Jose Galdo, 2013. "The Long-Run Labor-Market Consequences of Civil War: Evidence from the Shining Path in Peru," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 61(4), pages 789-823.
    4. Tom Bundervoet & Philip Verwimp & Richard Akresh, 2009. "Health and Civil War in Rural Burundi," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 44(2).
    5. Magnus Hatlebakk, 2007. "LSMS Data Quality in Maoist Influenced Areas of Nepal," CMI Working Papers 6, CMI (Chr. Michelsen Institute), Bergen, Norway.
    6. Alberto Abadie & Javier Gardeazabal, 2003. "The Economic Costs of Conflict: A Case Study of the Basque Country," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(1), pages 113-132, March.
    7. Karen Macours, 2011. "Increasing inequality and civil conflict in Nepal," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 63(1), pages 1-26, January.
    8. Giulia La Mattina, 2014. "Civil Conflict, Sex Ratio and Intimate Partner Violence in Rwanda," Working Papers 0114, University of South Florida, Department of Economics.
    9. Nidhiya Menon & Yana van der Meulen Rodgers, 2010. "War and Women’s Work: Evidence from the Conflict in Nepal," Working Papers 19, Brandeis University, Department of Economics and International Business School.
    10. Christopher Blattman & Edward Miguel, 2010. "Civil War," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 48(1), pages 3-57, March.
    11. Miguel, Edward & Roland, Gérard, 2011. "The long-run impact of bombing Vietnam," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(1), pages 1-15, September.
    12. Magnus Hatlebakk, 2010. "Maoist Control and Level of Civil Conflict in Nepal," South Asia Economic Journal, Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka, vol. 11(1), pages 99-110, March.
    13. Quy-Toan Do & Lakshmi Iyer, 2010. "Geography, poverty and conflict in Nepal," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 47(6), pages 735-748, November.
    14. Valente, Christine, 2011. "What did the Maoists ever do for us ? education and marriage of women exposed to civil conflict in Nepal," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5741, The World Bank.
    15. Mani Nepal & Alok K. Bohara & Kishore Gawande, 2011. "More Inequality, More Killings: The Maoist Insurgency in Nepal," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 55(4), pages 886-906, October.
    16. Jo Thori Lind & Karl Ove Moene & Fredik Willumsen, 2014. "Opium for the Masses? Conflict-Induced Narcotics Production in Afghanistan," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 96(5), pages 949-966, December.
    17. Verpoorten, Marijke, 2009. "Household coping in war- and peacetime: Cattle sales in Rwanda, 1991-2001," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(1), pages 67-86, January.
    18. Pivovarova, Margarita & Swee, Eik Leong, 2015. "Quantifying the Microeconomic Effects of War Using Panel Data: Evidence From Nepal," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 308-321.
    19. Christine Valente, 2014. "Education and Civil Conflict in Nepal," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 28(2), pages 354-383.
    20. Bellows, John & Miguel, Edward, 2009. "War and local collective action in Sierra Leone," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(11-12), pages 1144-1157, December.
    21. Camelia Minoiu & Olga Shemyakina, 2012. "Child Health and Conflict in Cote d'Ivoire," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(3), pages 294-299, May.
    22. Edward Miguel & Michael Kremer, 2004. "Worms: Identifying Impacts on Education and Health in the Presence of Treatment Externalities," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 72(1), pages 159-217, January.
    23. Sharma, Kishor, 2006. "The political economy of civil war in Nepal," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 34(7), pages 1237-1253, July.
    24. Kondylis, Florence, 2010. "Conflict displacement and labor market outcomes in post-war Bosnia and Herzegovina," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(2), pages 235-248, November.
    25. Chamarbagwala, Rubiana & Morán, Hilcías E., 2011. "The human capital consequences of civil war: Evidence from Guatemala," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(1), pages 41-61, January.
    26. Giulia La Mattina, 2014. "Civil Conflict, Sex Ratio and Intimate Partner Violence in Rwanda," HiCN Working Papers 175, Households in Conflict Network.
    27. Valente, Christine, 2015. "Civil conflict, gender-specific fetal loss, and selection: A new test of the Trivers–Willard hypothesis," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 31-50.
    28. Conley, T. G., 1999. "GMM estimation with cross sectional dependence," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 92(1), pages 1-45, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. François Libois & Jean-Marie Baland & Nicolas Delbart & Subhrendu Pattanayak, 2021. "Community Forest Management: The story behind a success story in Nepal," DeFiPP Working Papers 2106, University of Namur, Development Finance and Public Policies.
    2. Mitra, Anirban & Mitra, Shabana, 2020. "Redistribution of Economic Resources due to Conflict: The Maoist Uprising in Nepal," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(3), pages 578-604.
    3. Jean-Marie Baland & François Libois & Dilip Mookherjee, 2018. "Forest Degradation and Economic Growth in Nepal, 2003–2010," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 5(2), pages 401-439.
    4. Phadera, Lokendra, 2021. "Unfortunate Moms and Unfortunate Children: Impact of the Nepali Civil War on Women's Stature and Intergenerational Health," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    5. Keenan Marchesi & Marc Rockmore, 2023. "Conflict and nutrition: endogenous dietary responses in Nepal," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 15(1), pages 281-296, February.
    6. Hari Sharma & John Gibson, 2019. "Civil War and International Migration from Nepal: Evidence from a Spatial Durbin Model," Working Papers in Economics 19/06, University of Waikato.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hönig, Tillman, 2017. "The Impact of Peace: Evidence from Nigeria," MPRA Paper 83302, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Pivovarova, Margarita & Swee, Eik Leong, 2015. "Quantifying the Microeconomic Effects of War Using Panel Data: Evidence From Nepal," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 308-321.
    3. Tillman Hönig, 2019. "The Impact of Peace: Evidence from Nigeria," HiCN Working Papers 293, Households in Conflict Network.
    4. Tilman Br�ck & Patricia Justino & Philip Verwimp & Andrew Tedesco & Alexandra Avdeenko, 2013. "Measuring Conflict Exposure in Micro-Level Surveys," HiCN Working Papers 153, Households in Conflict Network.
    5. Minoiu, Camelia & Shemyakina, Olga N., 2014. "Armed conflict, household victimization, and child health in Côte d'Ivoire," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 237-255.
    6. Phadera, Lokendra, 2021. "Unfortunate Moms and Unfortunate Children: Impact of the Nepali Civil War on Women's Stature and Intergenerational Health," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    7. Christine Valente, 2011. "What Did the Maoists Ever Do for Us? Education and Marriage of Women Exposed to Civil Conflict in Nepal," HiCN Working Papers 105, Households in Conflict Network.
    8. Dominic Rohner, 2022. "Conflict, Civil Wars and Human Development," Cahiers de Recherches Economiques du Département d'économie 22.08, Université de Lausanne, Faculté des HEC, Département d’économie.
    9. Raut, Nirmal Kumar & Tanaka, Ryuichi, 2021. "Monitoring health services delivery: Evidence from civil conflict in Nepal," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    10. Akresh, Richard & Lucchetti, Leonardo & Thirumurthy, Harsha, 2012. "Wars and child health: Evidence from the Eritrean–Ethiopian conflict," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(2), pages 330-340.
    11. Serneels , Pieter & Verpoorten , Marijke, 2012. "The impact of armed conflict on economic performance. Evidence from Rwanda," NEPS Working Papers 5/2012, Network of European Peace Scientists.
    12. Odozi, John Chiwuzulum & Oyelere, Ruth Uwaifo, 2019. "Conflict Exposure and Economic Welfare in Nigeria," GLO Discussion Paper Series 334, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    13. Carly Petracco & Helena Schweiger, 2012. "The impact of armed conflict on firms’ performance and perceptions," Working Papers 152, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Office of the Chief Economist.
    14. Mercier, Marion & Ngenzebuke, Rama Lionel & Verwimp, Philip, 2020. "Violence exposure and poverty: Evidence from the Burundi civil war," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(4), pages 822-840.
    15. Margarita Pivovarova & Eik Leong Swee, 2012. "Quantifying the Microeconomic Effects of War: How Much Can Panel Data Help?," HiCN Working Papers 116, Households in Conflict Network.
    16. Olga N. Shemyakina, 2011. "Labour Market, Education and Armed Conflict in Tajikistan," HiCN Working Papers 106, Households in Conflict Network.
    17. Awaworyi Churchill, Sefa & Munyanyi, Musharavati Ephraim & Smyth, Russell & Trinh, Trong-Anh, 2021. "Early life shocks and entrepreneurship: Evidence from the Vietnam War," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 506-518.
    18. Swee, Eik Leong, 2015. "On war intensity and schooling attainment: The case of Bosnia and Herzegovina," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 40(PA), pages 158-172.
    19. Bertoni, Eleonora & Di Maio, Michele & Molini, Vasco & Nisticò, Roberto, 2019. "Education is forbidden: The effect of the Boko Haram conflict on education in North-East Nigeria," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    20. Haikun Zhan, 2022. "Hidden Costs of War: Evidence from Nepal’s Maoist Insurgency," HiCN Working Papers 375, Households in Conflict Network.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Civil war ; Income distribution ; Labour ; Inequality ; Migration ; Nepal;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O1 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development
    • D1 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior
    • D74 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Conflict; Conflict Resolution; Alliances; Revolutions
    • Q12 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Micro Analysis of Farm Firms, Farm Households, and Farm Input Markets
    • N45 - Economic History - - Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation - - - Asia including Middle East

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nam:wpaper:1603. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: François-Xavier Ledru (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/fsfunbe.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.