Impact of fundamentalism on human capital, women's social status and demographics: Evidence from Islamic state of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in Iraq

Abstract

I analyze the impact of the religious fundamentalists’ rule on regional human capital development and women's social status by exploiting the unexpected rise and fall of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in northwestern Iraq (2014∼2017). I find a large downward impact of exposure to ISIS rule on female human capital and an upward one on fertility rate for women who were school-aged at the time of ISIS occupation. These women express more patriarchal family norms and are more likely to belong to a polygamous union, implying a decline in women's social status. This decline in human capital and the rise of patriarchal family norms doesn't cause a significant negative impact on the development of their pre-school-aged children, possibly implying that these women didn't decrease parenting effort for their children. In summary, even a brief period of extremist rule has potentially large impacts on human capital development and culture.