Agricultural returns and conflict: quasi-experimental evidence from a policy intervention programme in Rwanda

Abstract

In 1997 Rwanda introduced a re-settlement policy for refugees displaced during previous conflicts. We exploit geographic variation in the speed of implementation of this policy to investigate the impact of conflict-induced displacement and the re-settlement policy on household agricultural output and on skill spill-over mechanisms between returnees and stayers. We find that returns to on-farm labour are higher for returnees relative to stayers, although the evidence suggests that the policy contributed little additional effect to this differential. More speculatively, these differentials suggest that, upon return from conflictinduced exile, returnees are more motivated to increase their economic performance