First and Second Generation Impacts of the Nigeria Biafra War

Applied Seminar

Marinella Leone

Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex

26-May-2017

Seminar 1 – 14:30

We estimate long-term impacts of exposure to the 1967-1970 Nigerian civil war using exogenous variation in war exposure across ethnicity and cohort. We present the first systematic evidence that war has adverse intergenerational impacts on human capital, and our evidence suggests this stems from maternal rather than paternal war exposure. Exposure during childhood has persistent effects, with larger effects stemming from exposure in adolescence. Women exposed to the war exhibit reduced adult stature, an increased likelihood of being overweight, lower educational attainment, and an earlier age at first birth. Overall fertility is unchanged, but their children are more likely to die in early childhood and, conditional on surviving are more likely to be stunted, underweight, and have slower rates of educational progression. We have no health data for men but while their education is insensitive to war exposure, they marry later and have fewer children.