Understanding the Impact of Windstorms on Economic Activity from Night Lights in Central America

Central America is particularly prone to tropical storms and hurricanes. The prevailing conditions of poverty and socioeconomic inequality in most countries of the region make their exposed population especially vulnerable to those adverse natural...

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Main Authors:	Ishizawa, Oscar A., Miranda, Juan Jose, Zhang, Hongrui
Format:	Working Paper
Language:	English en_US
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 2017
Subjects:	WINDSTORMS NIGHT LIGHTS HURRICANES NATURAL DISASTERS ECONOMIC GROWTH
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/338881498577038860/Understanding-the-impact-of-windstorms-on-economic-activity-from-night-lights-in-Central-America http://hdl.handle.net/10986/27627

id	okr-10986-27627
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	okr-10986-276272021-06-08T14:42:47Z Understanding the Impact of Windstorms on Economic Activity from Night Lights in Central America Ishizawa, Oscar A. Miranda, Juan Jose Zhang, Hongrui WINDSTORMS NIGHT LIGHTS HURRICANES NATURAL DISASTERS ECONOMIC GROWTH Central America is particularly prone to tropical storms and hurricanes. The prevailing conditions of poverty and socioeconomic inequality in most countries of the region make their exposed population especially vulnerable to those adverse natural events. This paper quantifies the causal effects of hurricane windstorms on economic growth using night lights in the Central America region at the highest spatial resolution data available (1 square kilometer). The paper uses a unique data set of monthly night lights data to capture the temporal disaggregation of hurricanes. Hurricanes in Central America are often localized events and tend to make landfall during the final months of the year that are better captured through monthly -– rather than yearly -– frequency data. The results suggest that major hurricanes show negative effects up to 12 months after the hurricane strikes (between -2.6 to -3.9 percent in income growth at the local level). After that, the analysis finds positive effects during the second year and the first half of the third year as evidence of post-disaster recovery (from 2.5 to 3.6 percent in income growth). The paper contributes to the literature on natural disasters by providing robust estimates of the causal effects of major hurricane windstorms on Central America, which are negative (in the short term) and positive (two years after hurricanes hit). 2017-07-18T22:40:21Z 2017-07-18T22:40:21Z 2017-06 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/338881498577038860/Understanding-the-impact-of-windstorms-on-economic-activity-from-night-lights-in-Central-America http://hdl.handle.net/10986/27627 English en_US Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8124 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper Latin America & Caribbean Central America
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
language	English en_US
topic	WINDSTORMS NIGHT LIGHTS HURRICANES NATURAL DISASTERS ECONOMIC GROWTH
spellingShingle	WINDSTORMS NIGHT LIGHTS HURRICANES NATURAL DISASTERS ECONOMIC GROWTH Ishizawa, Oscar A. Miranda, Juan Jose Zhang, Hongrui Understanding the Impact of Windstorms on Economic Activity from Night Lights in Central America
geographic_facet	Latin America & Caribbean Central America
relation	Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8124
description	Central America is particularly prone to tropical storms and hurricanes. The prevailing conditions of poverty and socioeconomic inequality in most countries of the region make their exposed population especially vulnerable to those adverse natural events. This paper quantifies the causal effects of hurricane windstorms on economic growth using night lights in the Central America region at the highest spatial resolution data available (1 square kilometer). The paper uses a unique data set of monthly night lights data to capture the temporal disaggregation of hurricanes. Hurricanes in Central America are often localized events and tend to make landfall during the final months of the year that are better captured through monthly -– rather than yearly -– frequency data. The results suggest that major hurricanes show negative effects up to 12 months after the hurricane strikes (between -2.6 to -3.9 percent in income growth at the local level). After that, the analysis finds positive effects during the second year and the first half of the third year as evidence of post-disaster recovery (from 2.5 to 3.6 percent in income growth). The paper contributes to the literature on natural disasters by providing robust estimates of the causal effects of major hurricane windstorms on Central America, which are negative (in the short term) and positive (two years after hurricanes hit).
format	Working Paper
author	Ishizawa, Oscar A. Miranda, Juan Jose Zhang, Hongrui
author_facet	Ishizawa, Oscar A. Miranda, Juan Jose Zhang, Hongrui
author_sort	Ishizawa, Oscar A.
title	Understanding the Impact of Windstorms on Economic Activity from Night Lights in Central America
title_short	Understanding the Impact of Windstorms on Economic Activity from Night Lights in Central America
title_full	Understanding the Impact of Windstorms on Economic Activity from Night Lights in Central America
title_fullStr	Understanding the Impact of Windstorms on Economic Activity from Night Lights in Central America
title_full_unstemmed	Understanding the Impact of Windstorms on Economic Activity from Night Lights in Central America
title_sort	understanding the impact of windstorms on economic activity from night lights in central america
publisher	World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate	2017
url	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/338881498577038860/Understanding-the-impact-of-windstorms-on-economic-activity-from-night-lights-in-Central-America http://hdl.handle.net/10986/27627
_version_	1764465513288695808

Understanding the Impact of Windstorms on Economic Activity from Night Lights in Central America

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