Discrimination in post-conflict settings: Experimental evidence from Colombia

After a civil war, community support for the reintegration of ex-combatants is crucial for peace-building. Using a crowdfunding campaign to promote trainees’ business ideas, we investigate whether university students discriminate against ex-combatants in Colombia. Our results show that there is no discrimination against ex-combatants in terms of donations compared with other trainees, but there is a substantial degree of prejudice and skepticism. This finding suggests that the reintegration of ex-combatants might be affected by the NIMBY phenomena. Although willing to economically support the peace process, individuals are skeptical towards personal encounters with ex-combatants. This suggest that to achieve sustainable peace, policies should focus on decreasing stigmatization towards ex-combatants