This paper investigates whether empathy, stemming from past exposure to violence, can motivate altruistic behavior towards refugees. The study focuses on the case of Ivorian refugees Liberia. During the 2010–11 Ivorian refugee crisis, over 150,000 Ivorians fled to eastern Liberia, a region that had itself experienced civil war from 1990 to 2003. Ivorian refugees found refuge in Liberian towns and villages. Some refugees shared ethnic and religious ties with the local population, others lacked cultural ties, and some came from groups that had a history of conflict with local communities.
The analysis is based on a survey of about 1,500 Liberians conducted in July 2013 and June 2014, covering 64 Liberian villages in the Liberia-Cote d’Ivoire border region. The survey collected data on background characteristics, experiences with hosting refugees, displacement, and violence during the Liberian civil war. The survey also included a conjoint experiment to elicit respondents’ preferences over attributes of refugees. Additionally, semi-structured field interviews were conducted to explore how Liberians reflected on their experiences hosting refugees.
Main findings:
- Individuals who directly or indirectly experienced violence during the Liberian civil war tend to host more refugees overall, including a higher proportion of non-coethnic and non-coreligious (Muslim) refugees. Exposure to one additional act of violence is associated with 5.6 additional refugee-months of hosting, a 2 percentage point increase in the likelihood of hosting non-coethnic refugees, and a 1 percentage point increase in the likelihood of hosting non-coreligious refugees.
- Past experiences with violence are linked to a greater likelihood of hosting refugee families experiencing health problems or food insecurity upon arrival, as well as those fleeing direct violence. Specifically, one additional act of violence correlates with a 5 percentage point increase in the likelihood of hosting a family with health problems, a 4 percentage point increase in the likelihood of hosting a family that were “hungry” or “starving” on arrival, and a 4 percentage point increase in the likelihood of hosting a family that had direct violence.
- Individuals affected by violence host a higher proportion of distressed and outgroup refugees. Violence-affected individuals host a higher proportion of refugees with health problems or those fleeing direct violence, although they do not host a higher proportion of food-insecure refugees. Additionally, exposure to violence is associated with a 1 percentage point increase in the proportion of non-coethnic families hosted and a 1 percentage point increase in the proportion of Muslim refugee families hosted.
- The conjoint experiment reveals that while biases against outgroup refugees are generally strong, individuals who experienced violence exhibit less bias and show stronger preferences for distressed refugees. Discrimination against non-coreligious (Muslim) refugees is severe, with non-coreligious refugees 15 per cent less likely to be hosted than coreligious refugees. To a lesser degree, respondents prefer to host distressed (hungry) refugees, female-headed households, and refugees with farming skills. Preferences for distressed (hungry) and vulnerable (female) refugees increases with prior exposure to violence, though these results are not statistically significant.
- Preferences for the distressed are greater and outgroup biases are lower when individuals are primed to think about their own experiences of violence and displacement. Discrimination against non-coreligious refugees is the single strongest predictor of whether a refugee is hosted. However, when individuals consider their own experiences with violence and displacement prior to deciding who to host, they become significantly more responsive to signs of refugee distress, while bias against religious outgroups becomes significantly less severe.
- Qualitative findings from structured interviews suggest that individuals’ past experiences with hardship during flight, exile and violence triggered an empathetic response to the refugee crisis.
Overall, the study demonstrates that individuals who have directly or indirectly experienced violence host more refugees overall, exhibit stronger preferences for distressed refugees, and show less bias against outgroup refugees, and host a higher proportion of non-coethnic, non-coreligious and distressed refugees. The findings challenge the common assumption that violence necessarily leads to greater antagonism toward outgroups. Instead, the study suggests that, under certain circumstances, past exposure to violence can motivate altruistic behavior across group boundaries.