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Does conflict affect preferences? Results from field experiments in Burundi

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  • M. Voorst
  • E. Nillesen
  • Philip Verwimp
  • E. Bulte
  • Robert Lensink
  • D. van Soest

Abstract

We use experimental data from 35 randomly selected communities in Burundi to examine the impact of exposure to conflict on social-, risk- and time preferences. These types of preferences are important as they determine people’s propensity to invest and their ability to overcome social dilemmas, so that changes therein foster or hinder economic growth. We find that conflict affects preferences. Individuals that have been exposed to greater levels of violence display more altruistic behavior towards their neighbors, are more risk seeking, and have higher discount rates. Adverse, but temporary, shocks can thus alter savings and investments decisions, and potentially have long-run consequences.

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Bibliographic Info

Paper provided by ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles in its series Working Papers ECARES with number 2010_006.

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Date of creation: 2010
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Publication status: Published by: ECARES
Handle: RePEc:eca:wpaper:2010_006

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Blog mentions

As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
  1. Violence leads to social cohesion and political activation: The evidence base grows
    by Chris Blattman in Chris Blattman on 2011-08-23 10:52:16
  2. Does surviving violence make you a better person?
    by Jesse Anttila-Hughes in Fight Entropy on 2012-04-19 11:30:00
  3. Facts about Juba
    by Dany Jaimovich - Bakary Baludin in Development Therapy on 2012-04-23 08:51:00
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