The Journey to Safety: Conflict-Driven Migration Flows in Colombia

Abstract

While there is a growing econometrics literature on the modeling of conflict and the interactions with trade, there has been relatively little evidence modeling the interregional migration behavior of individuals internally displaced by conflicts. The current article models the flows of households forced to leave their residence because of violent conflicts in Colombia. Results shed light on the main determinants of what we call journey to safety. Violence appears to be one of the most relevant pushing effects together with the absence of institutions and the dissatisfaction with the provision of basic needs. Furthermore, for regions with extreme violence levels, individuals appear to be willing to relocate to more distant locations. On the destination side, most populated regions are more attractive as well as areas with a sufficient level of fulfillment of basic needs.