Education
The human capital consequences of civil war: evidence from Guatemala
Civil war and education: assessing the Guatemalan experience
Authors:
R. Chamarbagwala (ed); H.E Moran (ed)
Publisher:
Households in Conflict Network , 2008
This paper investigates the impact of the worst period (1979-1984) of Guatemala's civil war on educational outcomes of individuals. It looks at the political history of civil war in Guatemala, the impact of the war on civilians, data and estimation, does an empirical analysis and presents the results.
The paper employs empirical identification which compares the difference in the schooling of those who were of school age between 1979 and 1984 with those who had completed school before1979 in departments that experienced high and low war intensity. It also includes interactions between year of birth indicators and the availability of basic services in a department prior to the war.
The paper presents a number of findings, including:
- females who were born between 1961 and 1977 during peak instability experienced less schooling, a 12% decline relative to the average educational attainment. The impact is stronger for older female cohorts (1961and 1966), who experienced a decline of 17%
- older males exposed to the war were less likely to complete grades7 to 12. However, older females experienced a larger decline in completing grades 4 to 12
- the results suggest that due to loss of property and displacement families may have reallocated limited resources in favour of boys at the expense of girls,with at least some primary education
- at higher grades, rural and Mayan females were better off than their urban and non-Mayan counterparts. Among older girls narrowing the gap between urban and rural as well as between Mayan and non-Mayan schooling outcomes .
The paper concludes that due to losses suffered during the war, resources may have been diverted from education in general and the schooling of older boys and particularly older girls. Regional disparities between high and low war intensity departments also exist, the greatest differentials being for females in primary school grades. The worst period of the war appears to have intensified both regional and gender disparities in human capital accumulation.
