Conflict displacement and technology adoption: evidence from agricultural households in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Résumé
We use the Bosnian Living Standards Measurement Study (LSMS) survey to show that conflict-induced displacement of agricultural households affects dramatically the adoption of new technologies in agriculture. We exploit the heterogeneity in the level of violence in the pre-war location to account for the selection bias. This instrumental variable seems to be a source of exogenous variation in our case because violence aims to ethnic cleansing, without economic consideration. We find that displaced are less likely than stayers to adopt fertilizer. However, we find out that under-adoption may be mitigated by the access to the property of the displaced.