We use Synthetic Control Methodology to estimate the output loss in Tunisia as a result of the "Arab spring". Our results suggest that each Tunisian citizen lost, on average, an estimated US$ 600 (5.5 percent of GDP), US$ 574 (5.1 percent of GDP) and US$ 735 (6.4 percent of GDP) in 2011, 2012...

This paper explores the urban-rural welfare gap in 2002 and 2009/10 for the case of Sri Lanka. This was a period of high growth and falling poverty rates in the country. The paper attempts to explore three issues: (a) what are the determinants of urban and rural household welfare, (b) does the...

Little is known about the correlates of symptoms among ill persons. However, surveys of symptoms among ill persons hold much information that should be of interest for health care management. We propose a new technique based on the consideration of competing scores of symptoms to explain their...

This paper adopts a reduced form demand approach to analyse the key determinants influencing the health status of individuals in Uganda. In particular, we examine the importance of wealth, relative to other key determinants, and by employing both self reported and anthropometric sickness...

Despite the freely and publicly provided health care in Botswana, the proportion of low birth weight infants increased from 8% to 13% during 2000-2007 period. The latter rate was among the highest in the WHO African region and upper middle-income countries and may question the effectiveness of...

One of the theoretical predictions relating to the family size and birth order effect on child capital is resource dilution hypothesis, according to which large sizes and high child birth order are likely to have negative effects. However, there are arguments that the assumption of a fixed and...

This study finds evidence of irreversible health deficits amongst young children who were exposed to the Lord’s Resistance Army insurgency in Northern Uganda (1987- 2007). The causal effect of the conflict is found to be a 0.65 standard deviation fall in height-for-age z-scores amongst...

In this paper we estimate the causal effects of conflict on dietary energy supply in Côte d'Ivoire. To identify the true impact of conflict, we use prewar and post-war household data bracketing the conflict period and the spatial variation in the prevalence of conflict between the North and...

The increasing impact of natural disasters (floods, earthquakes, landslides, and avalanches) in Afghanistan, notably flooding and similar climate shocks, poses a growing concern as vulnerability to climate change intensifies the potential severity of these impacts in future. This paper uses two...