The Human Capital Effects of Hosting Refugees: Evidence from Kagera

Maryam Naghsh Nejad | IZA

In the last decade the number of international child refugees significantly increased and in 2015 about half of the refugees were children. According to the available literature the impact of forced migration on human capital in host countries has still to be explored. This paper estimates both the short and the long human capital consequences of hosting refugees fleeing from the genocides of Rwanda and Burundi in Tanzania in the Kagera region between 1991 and 2010. The study uses longitudinal data from the Kagera Health and Development Survey and the identification strategy relies on the fact that forced migration causes an exogenous shift in human capital supply. Preliminary results suggest that the impact of hosting refugees on children living in Kagera decreases child labor in the short run (between 1991 and 1994). The results are heterogeneous across genders and class ages. The study aims at understanding the mechanisms behind the variation in human capital due to the forced migration shock exploring different channels.