Sample Construction
Step N Dropped Reason
Panel A: From raw data to cleaned sample
1. Full NLSS 2017/18 individual roster 90,967 Starting point
2. Drop observations missing district code 90,109 858 District required to merge INSEC conflict data
3. Cleaned full sample 90,109 0 After variable construction (demographics, conflict, outcomes)
Panel B: Cohort restriction (defining the analysis sample)
4a. Exclude: too young in 2017 (age < 18) 32,390 Not yet working-age adults
4b. Exclude: too old in 2017 (age > 65) 4,467 Retirement-age; labor market decisions non-comparable
4c. Exclude: too young during conflict (age < 6 at conflict end) 0 Insufficient exposure window during formative years
4d. Exclude: too old at conflict start (age 41+ in 1996) 1,958 Already past career-formation stage when conflict began
4e. Exclude: overlap age cohort 7,889 Age 18 at conflict start and 41-46 in 2017; ambiguous exposure
4f. Other exclusions 6,231 Age combinations outside treatment/control definitions
Panel C: Main estimation sample
5. Treatment cohort (age 0-17 at conflict start, 18-45 in 2017) 27,444 Exposed to conflict during childhood/adolescence
6. Control cohort (age 18-40 at conflict start, 47-65 in 2017) 9,730 Fully formed adults when conflict began
7. MAIN ESTIMATION SAMPLE (Treatment + Control) 37,174 52,935 Used in balance table and all main regressions
Notes:
Starting sample: Nepal Labour Force Survey 2017/18 full individual roster (90,967 observations).
Conflict exposure data from INSEC covering 1996-2006. District information required to merge conflict and survey data.
Cohort definitions are based on age at conflict onset (1996): treatment = age 0-17, control = age 18-40. Current-age windows in 2017 (18-45 for treatment; 47-65 for control) ensure both cohorts are working-age adults at survey.
Regressions that additionally control for education or occupation will have slightly smaller samples due to listwise deletion of missing covariates. The final analysis sample of 37,174 refers to the main (no additional controls) specification.
Source: Nepal Labour Force Survey 2017/18; INSEC conflict database.