Effect of Conflict on Dietary Diversity: Evidence from Côte d’Ivoire

SummaryIn this paper we estimate the causal effects of conflict on dietary diversity in Côte d’Ivoire. To identify the true impact of conflict, we use (1) pre-war and post-war household data, (2) the specific counts of conflict events across departments, and (3) self-reported victimization indicators. We find robust and statistically significant evidence of households in the worst-hit conflict areas and individuals who are the direct victims of the conflict having lower dietary diversity. The propensity score-matching estimates do not alter the main findings. Other robustness checks including subsamples of households with children support the existing findings.