The Impact of Natural Disasters on Womenʼs Empowerment in Rural Vietnam

Trung Xuan Hoang and Van Thi Le Nga

Hitotsubashi Journal of Economics, 2021, vol. 62, issue 2, 101-123

Abstract: This study investigates the impact of natural disasters on womenʼs empowerment in rural Vietnam. Using Vietnam Access to Resources Household Surveys 2008 and 2010, we find strong evidence on the impact of natural disasters on womenʼs empowerment. Non-parametric methods also corroborate this finding. Our estimates are strong for different model specifications and different measures of womenʼs empowerment. We also discuss channels through which natural disasters affect womenʼs empowerment. In an agrarian society, men have an advantage in agricultural activities relative to women, therefore women have less power within households compared with men. Our empirical results show that higher number of natural disasters results in a reduction in agricultural income. This decreases menʼs power relative to womenʼs power within households. The impact of number of natural disasters on womenʼs empowerment is statistically insignificant for households with lower shares of farm income while it is statistically significant for households with higher shares of farm income. Leveraging a test of exogeneity by Caetano (2015), we document the causal relationship between natural disasters and womenʼs empowerment.

Keywords: natural disasters; womenʼs empowerment; test of exogeneity; household fixed effects; rural Vietnam (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hit:hitjec:v:62:y:2021:i:2:p:101-123

DOI: 10.15057/hje.2021005

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