The persistent effect of conflict on human capital accumulation: evidence from Ethiopia

Crawford School of Public Policy | Arndt-Corden Department of Economics

Event details

PhD Seminar (Econ)

Date & time

Friday 28 April 2017
9.30am–11.00am

Venue

Coombs Extension 1.13, Coombs Extension Building, Fellows Road, ANU

Speaker

Samuel Weldeegzie, PhD scholar, Arndt-Corden Department of Economics, Crawford School.

This paper examines the persistent effect of the 1998 –2000 Ethiopia-Eritrea conflict on human capital accumulation. The empirical findings indicate that exposure to the conflict during early childhood decreases student achievement in mathematics and language scores (mainly for girls) a decade later. It increases the probability of grade repetition (for boys and girls) and dropout of school (for boys only). The paper (1) provides the first estimates on the long-term effect of exposure to conflict at early childhood on test scores, likelihood of grade repetition and dropout of school of primary school children, and (2) contributes to the literature on (a) childhood exposure to negative shocks matters more if such shocks happen at early than late childhood, and (b) gender differential effect of exposure to conflict.

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