Abstract

Does exposure to civil war during childhood affect women’s later-life intra-household decision-making power? This paper examines the long-term effects of early-life exposure to the Nigerian Civil War on women’s decision-making power within the household, using data from the 2008 Nigerian Demographic and Health Survey. To identify the effects, we adopt a difference-in-differences approach which exploits variation in exposure to the civil war by year of birth and ethnicity. The results show that early-life exposure to the war decreases the likelihood of women’s decision-making power within the household in adulthood. Likely mechanisms include different fertility and marriage choices as well as poorer education, health, and employment outcomes as a result of exposure to the war, which would place women in a more precarious position in the household relative to their partners.

摘要

童年时期遭受内战的影响会影响女性在家庭中的后期决策权吗？本文使用来自2008年尼日利亚人口与健康调查的数据，考察了尼日利亚内战的早期生命暴露对妇女在家庭中决策能力的长期影响。为了确定影响，我们采用了差异差异方法，该方法利用了出生年月和种族不同，在内战中所经历的变化。结果表明，战争的早期阶段降低了成年妇女在家庭中决策能力的可能性。可能的机制包括不同的生育率和婚姻选择，以及由于遭受战争影响而导致的教育，健康和就业结果较差，