Language: English

Speaker: Gedeon Lim（Assistant Professor, University of Hong Kong）

Title: Civilian Killings and Long-run Development: Evidence from the Korean War (Joint with Yeonha Jung Sangyoon Park)

Moderator: Junichi Yamasaki (Graduate School of Economics, Kyoto University)

Abstract: This study examines the economic effects of targeted civilian killings. We exploit plausibly exogenous variation in the spatial distribution of educated elite killings driven by unanticipated UN operations. We find a persistently negative effect on long-run contemporary development. Turning to mechanisms, we find an immediate, short-run decline in school enrollment and increases in blue-collar employment shares. These effects persist into the medium-run where we see higher agricultural employment shares. We rule out selective migration and differential demographic changes. Taken together, exposure to elite killings appear to have had persistently negative impacts on development through a marked decrease in the demand for education.

Contact: Hisaki Kono (Graduate School of Economics, Kyoto University) and Tomohiro Machikita