The effect of natural disasters on economic activity in US counties: A century of data

Leah Platt Boustan; Matthew E. Kahn; Paul W. Rhode; Maria Lucia Yanguas

doi:10.1016/j.jue.2020.103257

The effect of natural disasters on economic activity in US counties: A century of data

Leah Platt Boustan, Matthew E. Kahn, Paul W. Rhode, Maria Lucia Yanguas

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

117 Scopus citations

Abstract

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.

Original language	English (US)
Article number	103257
Journal	Journal of Urban Economics
Volume	118
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jue.2020.103257
State	Published - Jul 2020

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

Economics and Econometrics
Urban Studies

Keywords

Housing markets
Migration
Natural disasters

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10.1016/j.jue.2020.103257

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title = "The effect of natural disasters on economic activity in US counties: A century of data",

abstract = "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.",

keywords = "Housing markets, Migration, Natural disasters",

author = "Boustan, {Leah Platt} and Kahn, {Matthew E.} and Rhode, {Paul W.} and Yanguas, {Maria Lucia}",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2020 Elsevier Inc.",

year = "2020",

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doi = "10.1016/j.jue.2020.103257",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "118",

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AU - Yanguas, Maria Lucia

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AB - 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.

KW - Housing markets

KW - Migration

KW - Natural disasters

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The effect of natural disasters on economic activity in US counties: A century of data

Abstract

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

Keywords

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