Discrimination in post-conflict settings: Experimental evidence from Colombia

•We study the willingness of the civil population to support the process of peace-building in Colombia.•We show that university students do not discriminate against ex-combatants and are willing to support their business ideas.•However, we detect a substantial degree of prejudice, and participants p...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:World development 2022-06, Vol.154, p.105877, Article 105877
Main Authors: Unfried, Kerstin, Ibañez Diaz, Marcela, Restrepo-Plaza, Lina Maria
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Business students
Civil war
College students
Colombia
Community involvement
Discrimination
Donations
Facility siting disputes
Peace
Peace negotiations
Peace process
Prejudice
Rehabilitation
Reintegration
Skepticism
Stigma
Trainees
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Summary:•We study the willingness of the civil population to support the process of peace-building in Colombia.•We show that university students do not discriminate against ex-combatants and are willing to support their business ideas.•However, we detect a substantial degree of prejudice, and participants prefer to avoid personal encounters with ex-combatants.•We provide novel evidence on the NIMBY phenomenon -Not-in-my-backyard- in the reintegration process. After a civil war, community support for the reintegration of ex-combatants is crucial for peace-building. Using a crowdfunding campaign to promote trainees’ business ideas, we investigate whether university students discriminate against ex-combatants in Colombia. Our results show that there is no discrimination against ex-combatants in terms of donations compared with other trainees, but there is a substantial degree of prejudice and skepticism. This finding suggests that the reintegration of ex-combatants might be affected by the NIMBY phenomena. Although willing to economically support the peace process, individuals are skeptical towards personal encounters with ex-combatants. This suggest that to achieve sustainable peace, policies should focus on decreasing stigmatization towards ex-combatants.
ISSN:0305-750X
1873-5991
DOI:10.1016/j.worlddev.2022.105877