IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wbk/wbrwps/9430.html

The Scars of Civil War: The Long-Term Welfare Effects of the Salvadoran Armed Conflict

Author

Listed:
  • Acosta,Pablo Ariel
  • Baez Ramirez,Javier Eduardo
  • Caruso,German Daniel
  • Carcach,Carlos

Abstract

This paper estimates the long-term effects on human capital accumulation and subsequent labormarket outcomes of in utero and early childhood exposure to the civil war in El Salvador (1980-92), the second longestand deadliest civil conflict in Central America. Identification is obtained from spatial and intertemporalvariation in the intensity of the conflict drawn from historical archive data comprising records of humancasualties, disappearances, and refugees. The results show that people born in highly violent areas during the civilwar saw a reduction in their probability of being employed by 6 percentage points, and of getting a high-skilled job by5 percentage points, 20 to 30 years after it happened. The civil war also reduced their education by 0.8 year, as wellas their enrollment and literacy rates. Subgroup analysis indicates that exposed males and indigenous groupsexperienced the largest losses in human capital and had weaker performance in the labor market.

Suggested Citation

  • Acosta,Pablo Ariel & Baez Ramirez,Javier Eduardo & Caruso,German Daniel & Carcach,Carlos, 2020. "The Scars of Civil War: The Long-Term Welfare Effects of the Salvadoran Armed Conflict," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9430, The World Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:9430
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/601951602080989218/pdf/The-Scars-of-Civil-War-The-Long-Term-Welfare-Effects-of-the-Salvadoran-Armed-Conflict.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. D. de Walque & P. Verwimp, 2010. "The Demographic and Socio-economic Distribution of Excess Mortality during the 1994 Genocide in Rwanda," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 19(2), pages 141-162, March.
    2. 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.
    3. Akbulut-Yuksel, Mevlude, 2017. "War during childhood: The long run effects of warfare on health," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 117-130.
    4. Jeannie Annan & Christopher Blattman & Dyan Mazurana & Khristopher Carlson, 2011. "Civil War, Reintegration, and Gender in Northern Uganda," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 55(6), pages 877-908, December.
    5. Richard Akresh & Sonia Bhalotra & Marinella Leone & Una Okonkwo Osili, 2012. "War and Stature: Growing Up during the Nigerian Civil War," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(3), pages 273-277, May.
    6. 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.
    7. 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).
    8. Richard Akresh & German Daniel Caruso & Harsha Thirumurthy, 2014. "Medium-Term Health Impacts of Shocks Experienced In Utero and After Birth: Evidence from Detailed Geographic Information on War Exposure," NBER Working Papers 20763, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. 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.
    2. Richard Akresh & Sonia Bhalotra & Marinella Leone & Una Osili, 2017. "Hunger Games: First and Second Generation Impacts of the Biafran War," HiCN Working Papers 254, Households in Conflict Network.
    3. Tilman Br�ck & Patricia Justino & Philip Verwimp & Andrew Tedesco & Alexandra Avdeenko, 2013. "Measuring Conflict Exposure in Micro-Level Surveys," HiCN Working Papers 153, Households in Conflict Network.
    4. Bharati, Tushar, 2022. "The long shadow of the Kargil War: The effect of early-life stress on education," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 44(C).
    5. 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, vol. 31(1), pages 29-58.
    6. Richard Akresh, 2016. "Climate Change, Conflict, and Children," HiCN Working Papers 221, Households in Conflict Network.
    7. 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).
    8. Brück, Tilman & Justino, Patricia & Verwimp, Philip & Avdeenko, Alexandra, 2010. "Identifying Conflict and Violence in Micro-Level Surveys," IZA Discussion Papers 5067, IZA Network @ LISER.
    9. 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.
    10. Haas, Steven A. & Ramirez, Daniel, 2022. "Childhood exposure to war and adult onset of cardiometabolic disorders among older Europeans," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 309(C).
    11. van Ewijk, Reyn & Lindeboom, Maarten, 2022. "Selective mortality and fertility and long run health effects of prenatal wartime exposure," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 47(C).
    12. Massimiliano Bratti & Mariapia Mendola & Alfonso Miranda, 2015. "Hard to Forget: the Long-Lasting Impact of War on Mental Health," Development Working Papers 388, Centro Studi Luca d'Agliano, University of Milano.
    13. 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.
    14. Tranchant, Jean-Pierre & Justino, Patricia & Müller, Cathérine, 2020. "Political violence, adverse shocks and child malnutrition: Empirical evidence from Andhra Pradesh, India," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 39(C).
    15. 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.
    16. Akresh, Richard & Caruso, German Daniel & Thirumurthy, Harsha, 2022. "Detailed geographic information, conflict exposure, and health impacts," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    17. Jorge M. Agüero & Muhammad F. Majid, 2016. "War and the Stock of Human Capital," Working papers 2016-24, University of Connecticut, Department of Economics.
    18. Hönig, Tillman, 2017. "The Impact of Peace: Evidence from Nigeria," MPRA Paper 83302, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Takahiro Tsujimoto & Yoko Kijima, 2020. "Effects of conflict on child health: Evidence from the 1990–1994 Northern Mali Conflict," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(11), pages 1456-1474, November.
    20. Rakesh Banerjee & Tushar Bharati, 2020. "Mass shootings and Infant Health in the United States," Economics Discussion / Working Papers 20-16, The University of Western Australia, Department of Economics.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • I00 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - General - - - General
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth

    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:wbk:wbrwps:9430. 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: Roula I. Yazigi (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dvewbus.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.