Macroeconomic Implications of Natural Disasters in the Caribbean

Tobias Rasmussen

No 2004/224, IMF Working Papers from International Monetary Fund

Abstract: Each year natural disasters affect about 200 million people and cause about $50 billion in damage. This paper compares the incidence of natural disasters across countries along several dimensions and finds that the relative costs tend to be far higher in developing countries than in advanced economies. The analysis shows that small island states are especially vulnerable, with the countries of the Eastern Caribbean standing out as among the most disaster-prone in the world. Natural disasters are found to have had a discernible macroeconomic impact, including large effects on fiscal and external balances, pointing to an important role for precautionary measures.

Keywords: WP; ECCU country; country; GDP; government; market; price; Natural Disasters; Eastern Caribbean; Developing Countries; ECCU insurance market; countries of the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union; island state; market insurance; Insurance; Personal income; Fiscal stance; Caribbean; Global (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 25
Date: 2004-12-01
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (142)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:imf:imfwpa:2004/224

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