Conflict and Livelihood Decisions in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh

Abstract

We analyse rural household livelihood and child school enrolment decisions in the post-conflict setting of the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) region of Bangladesh. What makes this paper innovative is the use of current subjective perceptions regarding the possibility of violence in the future and past actual experiences of violence in explaining household economic decision-making. Preferences are endogenous in line with behavioural economics. Regression results show that heightened subjective perceptions of future violence and past actual experiences of conflict influence current consumption and child enrolment and could encourage risky mixed crop cultivation. The trauma emanating from past experiences combined with current high perceptions of risk of violence may induce bolder and riskier behaviour in line with prospect theories of risk. Furthermore, a postconflict household-level Phoenix or economic revival factor may be in operation, based partially on greater within-group trust.

Child School Enrollment Decisions, Perceptions and Experiences of Conflict in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh

“…It shows that households having a previous experience of land dispossession have a 6.7% higher probability of sending children to school as compared to those households who did not encounter this form of violence. The positive and statistically significant determining role of the experience of land dispossession is found robust across various estimation procedures (not shown, but available in Badiuzzaman, Cameron, and Murshed 2013). Pre-peace accord experiences of displacement and armed conflict do not separately have a significant influence on child enrollment, but both these variables when accompanied with an experience of land dispossession have a statistically significant relation (at 5% and 10% confidence levels; see Badiuzzaman, Cameron, and Murshed 2013).…”

“…We utilized trust in the form of good relations among the various indigenous groups, as a control variable in specification 2; its coefficient was found to be statistically insignificant. The interaction effect of past experiences of violence and trust on probability of children's enrollment is also insignificant (Badiuzzaman, Cameron, and Murshed 2013). In general, we may expect the prevalence of trust inside the community lessens the urgency of human capital acquisition as a future survival strategy.…”

Unpacking the Complexities of Armed Conflict Fatalities in Bangladesh: A Data-driven Study of Factors, Actors, and Spatial Patterns

“…This Series of studies examined the direct and indirect health effects of armed conflict on women and children (including adolescents) worldwide [3]. This study by badiuzzaman et al [11] examines rural household liveli-hood decisions, including prospective educational investment in the post-conflict Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) region of Bangladesh. The article [12] predicted armed conflict changes globally and regionally for 2010-2050, using a dynamic multi-nomial logit model with core predictors such as population size, infant mortality rates, and education levels.…”

Impact of post-conflict development interventions on maternal healthcare utilization

“…Soon after the advent of Bangladesh in 1971, the political leadership of the CHT region demanded constitutional recognition of their ethnic identity. This was denied for the sake of greater national unity (see Badiuzzaman and Murshed 2015;Barkat et al 2009).…”