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Abstract
This paper exploits exogenous variation in Burundi’s latest episode of civil war violence to estimate
the causal impact of exposure to violence and the probability of growing coffee, some four years after
the war ended. I constructed a unique panel dataset for a nationally representative sample of 242
households in 35 communities. Household fixed effects estimates show that exposure to individual
violence decreases the probability of growing coffee in the post-war period by some 16%. This effect
seems to be driven by a household member’s experience of physical violence rather than theft of crops
or assets. The results are consistent with the idea that physical violence may decrease household
labour availability if such violence caused people to die or become physically or mentally disabled.
On the other hand, I cannot rule out that changing risk and time preferences in response to violence
may also play a role.