Religious Terrorism, Social Norms, and Contraceptive Utilization: Spatial Spillovers of Boko Haram Attacks

This paper estimates the impact of violent attacks conducted by Boko Haram insurgents on geographically proximate areas that remain relatively safe. We find that distant violent events are associated with an increase in contraceptive utilization and changes in attitudes towards domestic violence. Economic outcomes of women, on the contrary, are hardly affected. We then extensively examine the role of the inflow of internally displaced people for the observed impacts, and the relevance of this effect channel relative to other possible explanations.

Speaker: Arndt Reichert is professor for health and development economics at the University of Hanover.

Authors: Paola Elice (World Bank) Martinez Flores (RWI, IZA) Please note that the seminar will take place via Microsoft Teams. If you like to participate in the seminar, please send an email beforehand to: [email protected]. Upon registration you will receive an email invite including the Microsoft Teams link.