How to Cope with a Refugee Shock? Evidence from Uganda

“Kadigo, Mark Marvin; Diallo, Nene Oumou; Maystadt, Jean Francois Paul C. 2022. How to Cope with a Refugee Shock? Evidence from Uganda. Washington, DC: World Bank. © World Bank. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/37051 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”

Sub-Saharan Africa hosts a large proportion of the world’s refugees, raising concerns about the consequences of hosting refugees. This paper focuses on Uganda, which is the largest refugee hosting country in Africa and is praised for its progressive refugee policy. The paper analyzes the effects of hosting refugees, relying on longitudinal data and an instrumental variable approach. The results indicate that Ugandan households benefit from living close to the refugee settlements. In contrast with the existing literature, the analysis finds that those initially involved in subsistence agriculture benefit the most. The effect seems to be driven by the few households able to move from subsistence agriculture to commercial farming and to some extent, to wage employment.