Household Coping in war- and peacetime: cattle sales in Rwanda, 1991-2001

Arbeitspapier

The economic literature has given due attention to household coping strategies in peacetime. In contrast, little is known about such strategies in wartime. This paper studies the use of cattle as a buffer stock by Rwandan households during 1991-2001, a period characterized by civil war and genocide. It is found that the probability of selling cattle increases upon the occurrence of both peacetime and wartime covariant adverse income shocks. The peacetime cattle sales are largely explained by shifts in the household asset portfolio. In contrast, in 1994, the year of the genocide, almost half of the cattle sales were motivated by the need to buy food. However, we argue that the effectiveness of this coping strategy was severely reduced due to the wartime conditions. First, during the year of ethnic violence, cattle prices plummeted to less than half of their pre-genocide value. Second, we find that households most targeted in the violence did not sell cattle. We discuss several explanations for this latter finding.

Objekt anzeigen

• Sprache: Englisch

Verweise und Beziehungen

• Erschienen in: Series: LICOS Discussion Paper ; No. 189

Klassifikation und Themen

• Klassifikation: Wirtschaft ; Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis ; Micro-Based Behavioral Economics: Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making‡ ; Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
• Thema: Coping Strategies ; Buffer Stock Model ; Cattle ; Violent Conflict ; Rwanda ; Buffer Stock ; Rind ; Politische Unruhen ; Haushaltsökonomik ; Schätzung ; Ruanda

Beteiligte, Orts- und Zeitangaben

• Ereignis: Geistige Schöpfung
• (wer): Verpoorten, Marijke
• Ereignis: Veröffentlichung
• (wer): Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, LICOS Centre for Institutions and Economic Performance
• (wo): Leuven
• (wann): 2007

Weitere Informationen

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/74885