Earthquakes and Economic Growth

Peter Simonsen ()
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Peter Simonsen: Institute for Advanced Development Studies
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Peter Fisker

No 01/2012, Development Research Working Paper Series from Institute for Advanced Development Studies

Abstract: This study explores the economic consequences of earthquakes. In particular, it is investigated how exposure to earthquakes aects economic growth both across and within countries. The key result of the empirical analysis is that while there are no observable eects at the country level, earthquake exposure signicantly decreases 5-year economic growth at the local level. Areas at lower stages of economic development suer harder in terms of economic growth than richer areas. In addition, the analysis proposes an explanation to the paradox that there is a pronounced negative eect at the regional level while no eect appears at the country level. To this end, the eects of earthquake exposure is investigated not only for the impact zones, but also for areas with an average distance to the epicenter of around 100 km. The results indicate that the decrease in production in one part of a country is (partially) o-set by an increase in production in the surrounding regions.

Keywords: Economic growth; naturaldisasters; spatial distribution (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O11 O49 R11 R12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 89 pages
Date: 2012-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dev, nep-geo and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (17)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:adv:wpaper:201201

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