IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp11690.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Violent Conflict and the Child Quantity-Quality Tradeoff

Author

Listed:
  • Nepal, Apsara Karki

    (International Center for Integrated Mountain Development)

  • Halla, Martin

    (WU Vienna University of Economics and Business)

  • Stillman, Steven

    (Free University of Bozen/Bolzano)

Abstract

We show that the exposure to war-related violence increases the quantity of children temporarily, with permanent negative consequences for the quality of the current and previous cohort of children. Our empirical evidence is based on Nepal, which experienced a ten year long civil conflict of varying intensity. Our difference-in-differences analysis shows that women in villages affected by civil conflict increased their actual and desired fertility during the conflict by 22 percent, while child height-for-age declined by 11 to 13 percent. Supporting evidence suggests that the temporary fertility increase was the main pathway leading to reduced child height, as opposed to direct impacts of the conflict. This likely occurred because there were more mouths to feed in these households.

Suggested Citation

  • Nepal, Apsara Karki & Halla, Martin & Stillman, Steven, 2018. "Violent Conflict and the Child Quantity-Quality Tradeoff," IZA Discussion Papers 11690, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
  • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11690
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://docs.iza.org/dp11690.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Michal Bauer & Christopher Blattman & Julie Chytilová & Joseph Henrich & Edward Miguel & Tamar Mitts, 2016. "Can War Foster Cooperation?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 30(3), pages 249-274, Summer.
    2. 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.
    3. Philip Verwimp & Jan Bavel, 2005. "Child Survival and Fertility of Refugees in Rwanda," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 21(2), pages 271-290, June.
    4. Karen Macours, 2011. "Increasing inequality and civil conflict in Nepal," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 63(1), pages 1-26, January.
    5. Apsara Karki Nepal, 2016. "The Impact of International Remittances on Child Outcomes and Household Expenditures in Nepal," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 52(6), pages 838-853, June.
    6. Patrick Domingues & Thomas Barre, 2013. "The Health Consequences of the Mozambican Civil War: An Anthropometric Approach," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 61(4), pages 755-788.
    7. 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.
    8. David Lindstrom & Betemariam Berhanu, 1999. "The impact of war, famine, and economic decline on marital fertility in ethiopia," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 36(2), pages 247-261, May.
    9. Mevlude Akbulut-Yuksel, 2014. "Children of War: The Long-Run Effects of Large-Scale Physical Destruction and Warfare on Children," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 49(3), pages 634-662.
    10. Klaren, Peter Flindell, 2000. "Peru: Society and Nationhood in the Andes," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780195069280, Decembrie.
    11. Sharma, Kishor, 2006. "The political economy of civil war in Nepal," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 34(7), pages 1237-1253, July.
    12. Jeffrey M. Wooldridge, 2003. "Cluster-Sample Methods in Applied Econometrics," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(2), pages 133-138, May.
    13. Marianne Bertrand & Esther Duflo & Sendhil Mullainathan, 2004. "How Much Should We Trust Differences-In-Differences Estimates?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 119(1), pages 249-275.
    14. Bruno Schoumaker, 2013. "A Stata module for computing fertility rates and TFRs from birth histories: tfr2," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 28(38), pages 1093-1144.
    15. Behrman, Jere R, 1988. "Intrahousehold Allocation of Nutrients in Rural India: Are Boys Favored? Do Parents Exhibit Inequality Aversion?," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 40(1), pages 32-54, March.
    16. Alok K. Bohara & Neil J. Mitchell & Mani Nepal, 2006. "Opportunity, Democracy, and the Exchange of Political Violence," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 50(1), pages 108-128, February.
    17. Philippe Fargues, 2000. "Protracted National Conflict and Fertility Change: Palestinians and Israelis in the Twentieth Century," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 26(3), pages 441-482, September.
    18. Henrik Urdal & Chi Primus Che, 2013. "War and Gender Inequalities in Health: The Impact of Armed Conflict on Fertility and Maternal Mortality," International Interactions, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(4), pages 489-510, September.
    19. Richard Akresh & Philip Verwimp & Tom Bundervoet, 2011. "Civil War, Crop Failure, and Child Stunting in Rwanda," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 59(4), pages 777-810.
    20. Gary S. Becker & H. Gregg Lewis, 1974. "Interaction between Quantity and Quality of Children," NBER Chapters, in: Economics of the Family: Marriage, Children, and Human Capital, pages 81-90, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    21. Patrick Heuveline & Bunnak Poch, 2007. "The phoenix population: Demographic crisis and rebound in Cambodia," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 44(2), pages 405-426, May.
    22. S. Mansoob Murshed & Scott Gates, 2005. "Spatial–Horizontal Inequality and the Maoist Insurgency in Nepal," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 9(1), pages 121-134, February.
    23. David Fielding & Anja Shortland, 2012. "The dynamics of terror during the Peruvian civil war," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 49(6), pages 847-862, November.
    24. 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).
    25. Schindler, Kati & Bruck, Tilman, 2011. "The effects of conflict on fertility in Rwanda," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5715, The World Bank.
    26. Mansour, Hani & Rees, Daniel I., 2012. "Armed conflict and birth weight: Evidence from the al-Aqsa Intifada," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(1), pages 190-199.
    27. Verwimp, Philip, 2012. "Undernutrition, subsequent risk of mortality and civil war in Burundi," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 10(3), pages 221-231.
    28. Gebremariam Woldemicael, 2008. "Recent fertility decline in Eritrea," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 18(2), pages 27-58.
    29. Christopher Blattman & Edward Miguel, 2010. "Civil War," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 48(1), pages 3-57, March.
    30. 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.
    31. Richard Akresh, 2016. "Climate Change, Conflict, and Children," HiCN Working Papers 221, Households in Conflict Network.
    32. Anuja Jayaraman & Tesfayi Gebreselassie & S. Chandrasekhar, 2009. "Effect of Conflict on Age at Marriage and Age at First Birth in Rwanda," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 28(5), pages 551-567, October.
    33. Jere R. Behrman & Anil B. Deolalikar, 1990. "The Intrahousehold Demand for Nutrients in Rural South India: Individual Estimates, Fixed Effects, and Permanent Income," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 25(4), pages 665-696.
    34. Nathalie Williams & Dirgha Ghimire & William Axinn & Elyse Jennings & Meeta Pradhan, 2012. "A Micro-Level Event-Centered Approach to Investigating Armed Conflict and Population Responses," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 49(4), pages 1521-1546, November.
    35. Richard H. Steckel, 1995. "Stature and the Standard of Living," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 33(4), pages 1903-1940, December.
    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. 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).
    2. Apsara KARKI NEPAL & Mani NEPAL & Randall BLUFFSTONE, 2023. "International labour migration, farmland fallowing, livelihood diversification and technology adoption in Nepal," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 162(4), pages 687-713, December.
    3. Samia Ferhat & Rozenn Hotte & Philip Verwimp, 2022. "Entry into Marriage, Motherhood and the Arab Spring: Evidence from Egypt," Working Papers ECARES 2022-16, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    4. Ella Sargsyan, 2022. "Violent Conflicts and Child Gender Preferences of Parents: Evidence from Nigeria," CERGE-EI Working Papers wp723, The Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education - Economics Institute, Prague.
    5. Orsola Torrisi, 2020. "Armed Conflict and the Timing of Childbearing in Azerbaijan," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 46(3), pages 501-556, September.

    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. 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.
    2. 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.
    3. 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.
    4. Andrés Felipe Castro Torres & B. Piedad Urdinola, 2019. "Armed Conflict and Fertility in Colombia, 2000–2010," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 38(2), pages 173-213, April.
    5. 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).
    6. Kati Kraehnert & Tilman Brück & Michele Di Maio & Roberto Nisticò, 2019. "The Effects of Conflict on Fertility: Evidence From the Genocide in Rwanda," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 56(3), pages 935-968, June.
    7. Hönig, Tillman, 2017. "The Impact of Peace: Evidence from Nigeria," MPRA Paper 83302, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Martin-Shields, Charles P. & Stojetz, Wolfgang, 2019. "Food security and conflict: Empirical challenges and future opportunities for research and policy making on food security and conflict," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 150-164.
    9. Prem, M & Guerra, M. E. & Rodríguez, P & Vargas, J. F., 2020. "The Peace Baby Boom: Evidence from Colombia’s peace agreement with the FARC," Documentos de Trabajo 18430, Universidad del Rosario.
    10. Tilman Brück & Patricia Justino & Philip Verwimp & Andrew Tedesco & Alexandra Avdeenko, 2013. "Measuring Conflict Exposure in Micro-Level Surveys," HiCN Working Papers 153, Households in Conflict Network.
    11. Tilman Brück & Patricia Justino & Philip Verwimp & Alexandra Avdeenko & Andrew Tedesco, 2016. "Measuring Violent Conflict in Micro-level Surveys: Current Practices and Methodological Challenges," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank Group, vol. 31(1), pages 29-58.
    12. Orsola Torrisi, 2020. "Armed Conflict and the Timing of Childbearing in Azerbaijan," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 46(3), pages 501-556, September.
    13. Richard Akresh & Sonia Bhalotra & Marinella Leone & Una Osili, 2023. "First- and Second-Generation Impacts of the Biafran War," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 58(2), pages 488-531.
    14. Armand Mboutchouang Kountchou & Soazic Elise Wang Sonne & Gadom Djal Gadom, 2019. "The Local Impact of Armed Conflict on Children’s Nutrition and Health Outcomes: Evidence from Chad," HiCN Working Papers 301, Households in Conflict Network.
    15. François Libois, 2016. "Households in Times of War : Adaptation Strategies during the Nepal Civil War," Working Papers 1603, University of Namur, Department of Economics.
    16. Dagnelie, Olivier & Luca, Giacomo Davide De & Maystadt, Jean-François, 2018. "Violence, selection and infant mortality in Congo," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 153-177.
    17. 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.
    18. Schindler, Kati & Bruck, Tilman, 2011. "The effects of conflict on fertility in Rwanda," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5715, The World Bank.
    19. Christine Valente, 2011. "Children of the Revolution: Fetal and Child Health amidst Violent Civil Conflict," Working Papers 2011018, The University of Sheffield, Department of Economics.
    20. Akresh, Richard & Caruso, German Daniel & Thirumurthy, Harsha, 2022. "Detailed geographic information, conflict exposure, and health impacts," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    conflict; violence; quantity-quality model of fertility; height-for-age; Nepal;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D74 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Conflict; Conflict Resolution; Alliances; Revolutions
    • H56 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - National Security and War
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • O10 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - General
    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development

    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:iza:izadps:dp11690. 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: Holger Hinte (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/izaaade.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.