Poverty and inequality in Bosnia and Herzegovina after the civil war

By taking advantage of new data we provide the first overview on poverty and inequality in Bosnia and Herzegovina after the war. We use a household survey commissioned by the World Bank which, despite limitations, helps shed some light on poverty risk and distribution of income in the country with respect to three issues: regional variation, ethnic differences, and household characteristics. We find large contrasts between the two entities in the country, the Federation and Republika Srpska. Ethnic cleansing may have exacerbated the differences among regions, as those poor ethnic minorities with the lowest opportunity cost migrated to regions where they were the ethnic majority. Remittances appear to play a role in ameliorating poverty. Inaddition, there are some signs that education may be a factor in preventing poverty. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.