Hurricane watch: Battening down the effects of the storm on local crop production

Abstract

Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. The Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in Bonn is a local and virtual international research center and a place of communication between science, politics and business. IZA is an independent nonprofit organization supported by Deutsche Post Foundation. The center is associated with the University of Bonn and offers a stimulating research environment through its international network, workshops and conferences, data service, project support, research visits and doctoral program. IZA engages in (i) original and internationally competitive research in all fields of labor economics, (ii) development of policy concepts, and (iii) dissemination of research results and concepts to the interested public. Terms of use: Documents in D I S C U S S I O N P A P E R S E R I E SIZA Discussion Papers often represent preliminary work and are circulated to encourage discussion. Citation of such a paper should account for its provisional character. A revised version may be available directly from the author. This study utilizes a panel fixed effects model to explore the economic impact of hurricanes on local crop production in Jamaica using quarterly 1999-2008 micro level data. We find, in general, that hurricanes will have a negative impact on production but not for crops grown below ground. The exceptions for underground crops being negatively affected are yams and potatoes for which water saturated soil reduces output. From these results, implications are obtained regarding issues such as food security, export expansion, and earnings.JEL Classification: O13, O54, Q1

Look what the hurricanes just blew in: analyzing the impact of the storm on criminal activities

“…Storms with these characteristics are considered to be catastrophic and require paying more than the usual attention to precautionary measures. While it is true that hurricane strikes are expected, a strike is exogenous in the sense that, its path, the timing of its occurrence cannot be completely determined (Belasen and Polachek 2008;Spencer and Polachek 2015). The hurricane variables are therefore assumed to be exogenous.…”

Effect of Natural Disasters and Their Coping Strategies in the Kuakata Coastal Belt of Patuakhali Bangladesh

“…There are many countries across the world where natural disasters impact crop production. For instance, [13] report battening down the effects of hurricanes on crop production throughout the world. Similarly, a hurricane wind risk and loss assessment of Caribbean agriculture was conducted by [14].…”

“…Integrated disaster risk management programs incorporate these strategies in a manner that includes; building awareness at school and community levels, facilitating the development of local disaster management and rescue plans, aiding in the formation of disaster risk reduction (DRR) groups, improving training to adequately asses' vulnerabilities to natural resources, and increasing search and rescue capacities in a variety of disaster prone areas [12]. Many studies have projected the remarkable impact of tropical cyclones on agriculture throughout the world [13]. The Coastal belt is significantly important for agriculture production due to its fertility and productivity, so this research provides a quantitative risk and loss assessment of agriculture, livestock, humans and other infrastructure across the Kuakata coastal belt in Bangladesh.…”

The Effects of Natural Disasters on the Labour Market: Do Hurricanes Increase Informality?

“…Using data from Mexico, Rodríguez-Oreggia (2013) finds that the potential destruction due to hurricanes as big shocks might increase employment rates, mainly blue-collar jobs involved in reconstruction. Also for Mexico, Spencer and Polachek (2015), using crop production data, find a negative relationship between agricultural productivity and hurricanes that is more pronounced for crops that are above ground. This evidence favours the negative effect of weather shocks on elements of the general equilibrium of labour markets in developing economies.…”