Impact of the West African Ebola Epidemic on Agricultural Production and Rural Welfare : Evidence from Liberia

The 2014-15 Ebola epidemic took a devastating human and economic toll on three West African countries, of which Liberia was perhaps the hardest hit. The pathways through which the crisis affected economic activity in these largely agrarian societie...

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Main Authors:	de la Fuente, Alejandro, Jacoby, Hanan G., Lawin, Kotchikpa Gabriel
Format:	Working Paper
Language:	English
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 2019
Subjects:	EBOLA EPIDEMIC AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY RURAL WELFARE
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/423511560254844269/Impact-of-the-West-African-Ebola-Epidemic-on-Agricultural-Production-and-Rural-Welfare-Evidence-from-Liberia http://hdl.handle.net/10986/31870

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recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	okr-10986-318702022-09-20T00:14:10Z Impact of the West African Ebola Epidemic on Agricultural Production and Rural Welfare : Evidence from Liberia de la Fuente, Alejandro Jacoby, Hanan G. Lawin, Kotchikpa Gabriel EBOLA EPIDEMIC AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY RURAL WELFARE The 2014-15 Ebola epidemic took a devastating human and economic toll on three West African countries, of which Liberia was perhaps the hardest hit. The pathways through which the crisis affected economic activity in these largely agrarian societies remain poorly understood. To study these mechanisms in the context of rural Liberia, this paper links a geographically disaggregated indicator of Ebola disease mortality to nationally representative household survey data on agricultural production and consumption. The paper finds that higher Ebola prevalence (as proxied by local mortality) led to greater disruption of group labor mobilization for planting and harvest, thereby reducing rice area planted as well as rice yields. Household welfare, measured by per capita expenditures spanning two points before and after the crisis, fell by more in Ebola prevalent areas with more intensive rice farming, precisely those areas that were more adversely affected by agricultural labor shortages. 2019-06-13T20:57:07Z 2019-06-13T20:57:07Z 2019-06 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/423511560254844269/Impact-of-the-West-African-Ebola-Epidemic-on-Agricultural-Production-and-Rural-Welfare-Evidence-from-Liberia http://hdl.handle.net/10986/31870 English Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8880 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 Africa Liberia
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
language	English
topic	EBOLA EPIDEMIC AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY RURAL WELFARE
spellingShingle	EBOLA EPIDEMIC AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY RURAL WELFARE de la Fuente, Alejandro Jacoby, Hanan G. Lawin, Kotchikpa Gabriel Impact of the West African Ebola Epidemic on Agricultural Production and Rural Welfare : Evidence from Liberia
geographic_facet	Africa Liberia
relation	Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8880
description	The 2014-15 Ebola epidemic took a devastating human and economic toll on three West African countries, of which Liberia was perhaps the hardest hit. The pathways through which the crisis affected economic activity in these largely agrarian societies remain poorly understood. To study these mechanisms in the context of rural Liberia, this paper links a geographically disaggregated indicator of Ebola disease mortality to nationally representative household survey data on agricultural production and consumption. The paper finds that higher Ebola prevalence (as proxied by local mortality) led to greater disruption of group labor mobilization for planting and harvest, thereby reducing rice area planted as well as rice yields. Household welfare, measured by per capita expenditures spanning two points before and after the crisis, fell by more in Ebola prevalent areas with more intensive rice farming, precisely those areas that were more adversely affected by agricultural labor shortages.
format	Working Paper
author	de la Fuente, Alejandro Jacoby, Hanan G. Lawin, Kotchikpa Gabriel
author_facet	de la Fuente, Alejandro Jacoby, Hanan G. Lawin, Kotchikpa Gabriel
author_sort	de la Fuente, Alejandro
title	Impact of the West African Ebola Epidemic on Agricultural Production and Rural Welfare : Evidence from Liberia
title_short	Impact of the West African Ebola Epidemic on Agricultural Production and Rural Welfare : Evidence from Liberia
title_full	Impact of the West African Ebola Epidemic on Agricultural Production and Rural Welfare : Evidence from Liberia
title_fullStr	Impact of the West African Ebola Epidemic on Agricultural Production and Rural Welfare : Evidence from Liberia
title_full_unstemmed	Impact of the West African Ebola Epidemic on Agricultural Production and Rural Welfare : Evidence from Liberia
title_sort	impact of the west african ebola epidemic on agricultural production and rural welfare : evidence from liberia
publisher	World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate	2019
url	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/423511560254844269/Impact-of-the-West-African-Ebola-Epidemic-on-Agricultural-Production-and-Rural-Welfare-Evidence-from-Liberia http://hdl.handle.net/10986/31870
_version_	1764475258337755136

Impact of the West African Ebola Epidemic on Agricultural Production and Rural Welfare : Evidence from Liberia

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