More than 100 natural disasters strike the United States every year, causing extensive fatalities and damages. We construct the universe of US federally designated natural disasters from 1920 to 2010. We find that severe disasters increase out-migration rates at the county level by 1.5 percentage points and lower housing prices/rents by 2.5-5.0 percent. The migration response to milder disasters is smaller but has been increasing over time. The economic response to disasters is most consistent with falling local productivity and labor demand. Disasters that convey more information about future disaster risk increase the pace of out-migration.

More than 100 natural disasters strike the United States every year, causing extensive fatalities and damages. We construct the universe of US federally designated natural disasters from 1920 to 2010. We find that severe disasters increase out-migration rates at the county level by 1.5 percentage points and lower housing prices/rents by 2.5-5.0 percent. The migration response to milder disasters is smaller but has been increasing over time. The economic response to disasters is most consistent with falling local productivity and labor demand. Disasters that convey more information about future disaster risk increase the pace of out-migration.

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We thank the Weidenbaum Center at Washington University in St. Louis for its financial support, Universidad de San Andrés in Argentina for providing a laboratory to conduct the experiment, and the Department of Economics at the University of Zurich for allowing us to use z-tree. We would specially like to thank Daron Acemoglu, James Walker, Arlington Williams, and Juan Camilo Cardenas for very insightful comments. Brian Feld provided excellent research assistance. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research. NBER working papers are circulated for discussion and comment purposes. They have not been peerreviewed or been subject to the review by the NBER Board of Directors that accompanies official NBER publications.

We thank the Weidenbaum Center at Washington University in St. Louis for its financial support, Universidad de San Andrés in Argentina for providing a laboratory to conduct the experiment, and the Department of Economics at the University of Zurich for allowing us to use z-tree. We would specially like to thank Daron Acemoglu, James Walker, Arlington Williams, and Juan Camilo Cardenas for very insightful comments. Brian Feld provided excellent research assistance. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research. NBER working papers are circulated for discussion and comment purposes. They have not been peerreviewed or been subject to the review by the NBER Board of Directors that accompanies official NBER publications.