The Palestinian Economy. Theoretical and Practical Challenges

Proceedings “The Palestinian Economy: Theoretical and Practical Challenges” 337
6. Concluding remarks
In this paper we analyzed the effect of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on child labour and
school attendance of Palestinian children (10-14 years) in the West Bank between the
beginning of the Second Intifada and the end of 2006.
Our main result is that an increase in the number of closure days increases the
probability of child labour and (weakly) reduces school attendance. We also considered
some possible regional, district and household level channels through which the conflict
may have affected children’s status. The evidence suggests that the increase in the
number of closure days reduces households’ income and the probability for the father to
be employed in Israel while it increases the number of unemployed in the household. All
these outcomes are in turn positively correlated with the probability of child labour. We
also have documented that the negative effect of closures on children’s status is not
limited – as one may expect – to households with the father being employed in Israel.
Indeed, our analysis indicates that the worsening of the local labour market conditions
induced by the closures of borders tends to increase child labour and reduce school
attendance independently from the household’s characteristics. When choosing which
security measure to implement, one should take into consideration all its (intended and
unintended) effects if the social costs of the conflict have to be minimized.