Conflict and Child Labor: Evidence from Poor Households in Colombia

Colombia suffers from one of the longest civil conflicts in the world, which is believed to have had several consequences on the country's economic and devel-opment performance. This study uses measures of central government deterrence effort as instruments of conflict to estimate the impact of conflict on children's time allocation to two different types of work: housework and work performed outside the household for poor families living in small municipalities in Colombia. I find that children living in highly affected by conflict municipalities are more likely to do some kind of work, specially outside the household. Moreover, housework intensity is significantly higher for girls living in this kind of municipalities.