Shaking Up the Equilibrium: Natural Disasters, Economic Activity, and Immigration

Philipp Ager, Casper Worm Hansen (casper.worm.hansen@econ.ku.dk) and Lars Lønstrup (loe@sam.sdu.dk)
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Casper Worm Hansen: University of Copenhagen, Postal: Denmark
Lars Lønstrup: Department of Business and Economics, Postal: University of Southern Denmark, Campusvej 55, DK-5230 Odense M, Denmark

No 2/2018, Discussion Papers on Economics from University of Southern Denmark, Department of Economics

Abstract: This paper examines the long-run effects on the spatial distribution of economic activity caused by historical shocks. Using variation in the potential damage intensity of the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake across cities in the American West, we show that more severely affected cities experienced lower population growth relative to less affected cities after the earthquake. This negative effect persisted until the late 20th century. The earthquake diverted migrants to less affected areas in the region, which, together with reinforcing dynamic agglomeration effects from scale economies, left a long-lasting mark on the location of economic activity in the American West.

Keywords: Economic geography; Location of economic activity; Migration; Natural disasters (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O15 O40 R11 R12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 37 pages
Date: 2018-02-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dem, nep-geo, nep-gro, nep-his, nep-lab, nep-mig and nep-ure
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hhs:sdueko:2018_002

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