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Poverty Dynamics, Violent Conflict and Convergence in Rwanda

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Author Info
Patricia Justino () (Institute of Development Studies)
Philip Verwimp () (Institute of Social Studies)

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Abstract

Civil war and genocide in the 1990-2000 period in Rwanda - a small, landlocked, densely populated country in Central Africa - have had differential economic impacts on the country’s provinces. The reasons for this are the death toll of the genocide, the location of battles, the waves of migration and the local resurgence of war. As a result, the labour/land and labour/capital ratios at the provincial level changed considerably during that period. Using two cross-sections, we find empirical evidence for convergence between provinces following the conflict shocks: previously richer provinces in the east and in the north of the country experienced lower, even negative, economic growth compared to the poorer western and southern provinces. This has in turn affected significantly the dynamics of household poverty in Rwanda in the same period. Using a small but unique panel of households surveyed before and after the conflict period, we find that households whose house was destroyed or who lost land ran a higher risk of falling into poverty. This was particularly the case for households who were land-rich before the genocide. We do not find this for the loss of household labour. In the latter case the effect depends on the violent or non-violent character of the loss.

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Paper provided by Households in Conflict Network in its series HiCN Working Papers with number 16.

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Length: 51 pages
Date of creation: Apr 2006
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Handle: RePEc:hic:wpaper:16

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  5. Appleton, S., 1995. "'The Rich Are Just Like Us Only Richer' Poverty Functions or Consumption Functions?," Working Papers Series 95-4, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford.
  6. Jonathan Morduch, 1995. "Income Smoothing and Consumption Smoothing," Harvard Institute of Economic Research Working Papers 1727, Harvard - Institute of Economic Research.
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  7. Duncan Thomas & Elizabeth Frankenberg & James P. Smith, 2004. "Lost but Not Forgotten: Attrition and Follow-up in the Indonesia Family Life Survey," Labor and Demography 0408007, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
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  8. Paul Gertler & Jonathan Gruber, 1997. "Insuring Consumption Against Illness," NBER Working Papers 6035, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  9. Tom Bundervoet & Philip Verwimp, 2005. "Civil War and Economic Sanctions: Analysis of Anthropometric Outcomes in Burundi," HiCN Working Papers 11, Households in Conflict Network. [Downloadable!]
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  18. Patricia Justino, 2006. "On the Links between Violent Conflict and Chronic Poverty: How Much Do We Really Know?," HiCN Working Papers 18, Households in Conflict Network. [Downloadable!]
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Richard Akresh & Philip Verwimp, 2006. "Civil War, Crop Failure, and the Health Status of Young Children," HiCN Working Papers 19, Households in Conflict Network. [Downloadable!]
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  2. Marijke Verpoorten, 2007. "Household Coping in war- and peacetime: cattle sales in Rwanda, 1991-2001," LICOS Discussion Papers 18907, LICOS - Centre for Institutions and Economic Performance, K.U.Leuven. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Akresh, Richard & Verwimp, Philip & Bundervoet, Tom, 2007. "Civil war, crop failure, and child stunting in Rwanda," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4208, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  4. Ana María Ibáñez & Andrés Moya, 2006. "The Impact of Intra-State Conflict on Economic Welfare and Consumption Smoothing: Empirical Evidence for the Displaced Population in Colombia," HiCN Working Papers 23, Households in Conflict Network. [Downloadable!]
  5. Patricia Justino, 2006. "On the Links between Violent Conflict and Chronic Poverty: How Much Do We Really Know?," HiCN Working Papers 18, Households in Conflict Network. [Downloadable!]
  6. Bruck, Tilman & Schindler, Kati, 2008. "The Impact of Conflict and Fragility on Households: A Conceptual Framework with Reference to Widows," Working Papers RP2008/83, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER). [Downloadable!]
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