New Developments in Measuring the Welfare Effects of Conflict Exposure at the Micro Level

This chapter provides an introductory overview of the Conflict Exposure Module (CEM). The CEM has been designed to take advantage of the two main approaches to linking conflict processes to socio-economic outcomes at the micro level. The channels based on the theoretical framework proposed in Justino include household composition, economic welfare, household activities, displacement, health and nutrition outcomes, education outcomes and decisions, perceptions of security, life satisfaction, and future expectation. Health and education may include any combination of physical, verbal, psychological and/or sexual violence. Population displacement, including refugee flows, is among the most visible impacts of modern conflicts. Important measures of household economic welfare include income status, food consumption, and asset endowments. Under normal conditions, changes in the composition of households typically take place through a limited number of modes, including birth, death, marriage, and migration. Comprehensiveness surveys often focus too narrowly on selected categories of violence and fail to account for the multi-dimensional nature and impact of violent conflict.