A Drop of Love? Rainfall Shocks and Spousal Abuse: Evidence from Rural Peru

Abstract

We investigate whether the exposure to rainfall shocks affects the experience of physical intimate partner violence by women in rural areas of the Peruvian Andes. Using data from the Demographic and Health Surveys over the period 2005-2014, we track changes in women's experience of physical IPV following the exposure to rainfall shocks during the cropping season. Our results indicate that the prevalence of physical intimate partner violence increases by 65 percent after the occurrence of events of drought, but not flood, during the cropping season. We argue, based on additional results, that this effect is mediated by increased poverty-related stress and reduced female empowerment caused by rainfall shocks.

Keywords: Health, Violence Against Women, Developing Countries

JEL Classification: D10, D13, I10, I15, O13