BU Economics PhD Candidate Thomas Gautier Kicks Off the 2019 HCI Speaker Series

This morning, Thomas Gautier kicked off our 2019 HCI Speaker Series with a talk entitled “The Long-Run Impact of Losing Siblings During a Genocide.” In his research, Gautier explores the long-term impacts of violent conflict on human capital. He is particularly concerned with the effect of losing siblings during a genocide on long-term health and education outcomes. Using data from the DHS, Gautier examines trends in post-genocide health and education outcomes for Rwandan women who lost siblings in the 1994 genocide compared to those who did not lose siblings. His initial research shows that losing siblings has a positive impact on education outcomes (at least one year of additional schooling), but a negative impact on wealth. Future research will attempt to uncover the reasons for this seemingly contradictory trend, as well as how differences in pre-genocide family structures might also impact health and education outcomes.

The HCI Speaker Series takes place from 9:30 AM – 11:00 AM on Mondays during the fall semester. All of our speakers are PhD Candidates studying various issues related to women’s empowerment research, population health economics, and the political economy of human capital. Please feel free to check out our schedule and join us for our future events.