The impacts of natural disasters on plants' growth: Evidence from the Great Hanshin-Awaji (Kobe) earthquake

Ayumu Tanaka

Regional Science and Urban Economics, 2015, vol. 50, issue C, 31-41

Abstract: This study is the first attempt to examine the impacts of a natural disaster at the plant level, focusing on the Great Hanshin-Awaji (Kobe) earthquake, which occurred in 1995 and affected numerous plants in Kobe city. In this study, I use plant-level data to re-examine the creative disaster hypothesis, which states that natural disasters enhance growth of firms or plants in stricken areas. I employ the matching method together with the difference-in-difference (DID) approach to reveal the quake's effects. While most country and firm-level evidences support the creative disaster hypothesis, this study shows that the plants that survived in Kobe's most devastated districts faced severe negative effects from the quake in terms of employment and value added growth during the subsequent three years.

Keywords: Natural disasters; Difference-in-difference; Plant growth (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C21 Q54 R11 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (26)

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Related works:
Working Paper: The Impacts of Natural Disasters on Plants' Growth: Evidence from the Great Hanshin-Awaji (Kobe) Earthquake (2013)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:regeco:v:50:y:2015:i:c:p:31-41

DOI: 10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2014.11.002

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