Economic Fallout of Social Conflict: Evidence from Social Media and Satellite Images

This paper investigates the economic consequences of social conflict and political instability in Haiti, leveraging a quasi-experimental design and innovative data sources. By exploiting geographical heterogeneity and using data from Facebook and satellite imagery, the study demonstrates the impact of different types of violence on economic activity. The findings indicate that one additional violent event reduces economic activity by approximately 3.1% in the short term. In the medium term, an additional political or civil event is associated with a decline of approximately 1.5% and 2.5%, respectively. The analysis also reveals that the sectors most impacted by rising insecurity are home services and professional services, with limited recovery observed after violent events.