Ethnic Fragmentation, Conflict, Displaced Persons and Human Trafficking: An Empirical Analysis

25 Pages Posted: 30 Aug 2010

See all articles by Randall Akee

Randall Akee

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Arnab K. Basu

College of William and Mary - Department of Economics

Nancy H. Chau

Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics of Management, Cornell University; IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Melanie Khamis

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Abstract

Ethnic conflicts and their links to international human trafficking have recently received a surge in international attention. It appears that ethnic conflicts exacerbate the internal displacement of individuals from networks of family and community, and their access to economic and social safety nets. These same individuals are then vulnerable to being trafficked by the hopes of better economic prospects elsewhere. In this paper, we empirically examine this link between ethnic fragmentation, conflicts, internally displaced persons (IDPs), refugees and international trafficking, making use of a novel dataset of international trafficking. We conduct a direct estimation, which highlights the ultimate impact of ethnic fragmentation and conflict on international trafficking through internal and international displacements.

Keywords: ethnic fragmentation, conflict, displaced persons, human trafficking

JEL Classification: R23, D74, O11, Z12

Suggested Citation

Akee, Randall and Basu, Arnab K. and Chau, Nancy H. and Khamis, Melanie, Ethnic Fragmentation, Conflict, Displaced Persons and Human Trafficking: An Empirical Analysis. IZA Discussion Paper No. 5142, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1667766 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1667766

Randall Akee (Contact Author)

IZA Institute of Labor Economics ( email )

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

Arnab K. Basu

College of William and Mary - Department of Economics ( email )

Williamsburg, VA 23187-8795
United States
757-221-1318 (Phone)
757-221-1175 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://faculty.wm.edu/akbasu/

Nancy H. Chau

Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics of Management, Cornell University ( email )

Ithaca, NY
United States

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

Melanie Khamis

IZA Institute of Labor Economics ( email )

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

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