Education is forbidden: The effect of the Boko Haram conflict on education in North-East Nigeria

By Eleonora Bertoni, M. Maio, Vasco Molini, R. Nisticò. Journal of Development Economics, 2019

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TThis paper quantifies the microeconomic impact of the Boko Haram conflict on various educational outcomes of children living in North-East Nigeria during the period 2009- 2016. Using an individual panel fixed-effects regression and exploiting both over-time and within-district variation in household-level conflict exposure, we show that conflict reduces school enrollment and increases the probability of school dropout. In addition, using a standard difference-in-difference estimation strategy, we show that conflict reduces the years of education completed. As for the mechanisms explaining the decision to abandon school, we document that conflict increases the child's probability of working in the household's non-farm enterprise, a choice likely to be motivated by the conflict -induced worsening in the quality of the school supply. Finally, we find that conflict also worsen the general health conditions of the students.

Subfields: Safety Research, Sociology and Political Science, Soil Science

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