Does violent conflict make chronic poverty more likely? the Mindanao experience

Abstract

This paper investigates whether provinces with violent conflict are more likely to experience higher rates of chronic poverty. Following the findings that education and health outcomes are key determinants of chronic poverty, the Human Development Index (HDI) and the Quality of Life Index (QLI) are used as proxy variables for chronic poverty. T-tests of means for HDI and QLI are performed, comparing provinces with conflict and provinces without conflict. Results show that provinces experiencing conflict have significantly lower HDI outcomes relative to provinces that did not experience conflict. Pooled results for the QLI also show a statistically significant difference between the means of provinces with and without conflict.