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Educational consequences of firsthand exposure to armed conflict: The case of the Sri Lankan Civil War

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  • Ito, Takahiro
  • Li, Jia
  • Usoof-Thowfeek, Ramila
  • Yamazaki, Koji

Abstract

This study examines the educational consequences of exposure to conflict using the case of the 1983–2009 Sri Lankan Civil War. Based on a strategy of within-sibling comparison, we estimate the educational impacts of households’ firsthand experiences of different types of conflict events: human victimization, property damage, and war-induced migration. The estimation results show that the impacts of conflict exposure vary depending on the type of conflict event and the timing of exposure. In a worst-case scenario in which a household experiences two events that cause human victimization and property damage when a child is school-aged, the probability that the child completes upper secondary or higher education decreases by 97.2 percentage points, lowering educational attainment by 3.49 years (29.4 % of the sample mean). Furthermore, the prolonged and significant impacts of property damage that we found suggest that providing immediate assistance to children in damaged households could be an effective measure for mitigating the loss of human capital in the next generation.

Suggested Citation

  • Ito, Takahiro & Li, Jia & Usoof-Thowfeek, Ramila & Yamazaki, Koji, 2024. "Educational consequences of firsthand exposure to armed conflict: The case of the Sri Lankan Civil War," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:173:y:2024:i:c:s0305750x23002486
    DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2023.106430
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