Does hurricane risk affect individual well-being? Empirical evidence on the indirect effects of natural disasters

Michael Berlemann ()

Ecological Economics, 2016, vol. 124, issue C, 99-113

Abstract: While natural disasters might have numerous direct (typically negative) effects, the effect of an increase of natural disaster risk on individual well-being is often neglected. In this paper we study the effects of natural disaster risk on self-reported happiness and life satisfaction at the example of tropical storms. Combining several waves of the integrated European/World Values Survey and appropriate storm data we find a systematically negative effect of hurricane risk on both measures of individual well-being in relatively poor countries in which the population has little possibilities to take protective measures against storms. In highly developed countries, we find a systematic negative and much smaller effect only for life satisfaction. Altogether we conclude that disaster risk tends to play a role for individual well-being, especially on low levels of development.

Keywords: Happiness; Life satisfaction; Well-being; Natural disasters (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I31 Q54 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (27)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:124:y:2016:i:c:p:99-113

DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2016.01.020

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