The Impact of Internal Displacement on Destination Communities: Evidence from the Colombian Conflict

More than ten percent of the population of Colombia has been forced to migrate due to civil war. This study employs an enclave IV strategy, which exploits social distance between origin and destination locations, as well as conflict induced migration, to estimate the impact that the arrival of displaced individuals has on local residents. I compare the effects on four different subgroups of the population, partitioned by skill (low-skilled versus high-skilled) and by gender. The analysis suggests that a conflict-induced increase in population leads to a short-run negative impact on wages. Though the impact tends to dissipate over time, it persists for one group, low-skilled women. The arrival of internally displaced people also affects local access to public goods, I find a negative effect on access to piped water, and a positive effect on access to trash collection services.

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