Publication Details

Civil war and the welfare of extended households

evidence from longitudinal data from Burundi

Philip Verwimp
Tom Bundervoet
2010

Abstract

We analyse the effect of violence and rebellion on the evolution of household welfare. We collected new panel data for Burundi (1999-2007) in which we reinterviewed original as well as newly formed households (split-offs). We use several definitions of the household as unit of analysis and test for resource pooling between parental and split-off households. Focusing on the effect of civil war, we find that villagelevel violence, measured as the number of battle-related deaths or wounded reduces consumption growth by 9 per cent for every 25 casualties. Joining an armed rebel group was a lucrative livelihood strategy: households of which at least one member joined an armed group experienced 41 per cent higher growth in welfare over the study period. Results are robust to alternative variables of civil war shocks and model specifications, including household fixed effects and initial household fixed effects.

Publication Type(s)

Conference Paper

Ten Years of War Against Poverty Conference Papers

Conference: Ten Years of War Against Poverty

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