Living like there’s no tomorrow: Saving and spending following the Sichuan earthquake
In addition to human casualties and physical damage to infrastructure, natural disasters affect survivors emotionally and psychologically. Research on such impacts has almost exclusively been confined to the medical field, and focused on severe conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder. The...
| Autores principales: | , , , |
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| Formato: | Artículo preliminar |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés |
| Publicado: |
International Food Policy Research Institute
2015
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| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/149760 |
| _version_ | 1855537002762469376 |
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| author | Filipski, Mateusz J. Jin, Ling Zhang, Xiaobo Chen, Kevin Z. |
| author_browse | Chen, Kevin Z. Filipski, Mateusz J. Jin, Ling Zhang, Xiaobo |
| author_facet | Filipski, Mateusz J. Jin, Ling Zhang, Xiaobo Chen, Kevin Z. |
| author_sort | Filipski, Mateusz J. |
| collection | Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace) |
| description | In addition to human casualties and physical damage to infrastructure, natural disasters affect survivors emotionally and psychologically. Research on such impacts has almost exclusively been confined to the medical field, and focused on severe conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder. The fact that emotional shocks and increased risk awareness may trigger changes in the preferences and behavior of economic agents has until now largely been ignored, including by economists. Based on panel datasets from China’s Sichuan province, which was struck by an earthquake in 2008, and using distance from epicenter as a proxy for earthquake severity, we empirically show that the saving and consumption behavior of households closer to the epicenter changed after the earthquake. They saved less, spent more lavishly on alcohol and cigarettes, and also played majiang (a Chinese game) more often. The magnitude of the estimated impact on saving behavior, a drop of 6 percentage points for each degree of earthquake intensity, is economically significant. It appears that the earthquake has induced a shift in people’s preferences characterized by a carpe diem attitude toward spending and greater preference for the present. |
| format | Artículo preliminar |
| id | CGSpace149760 |
| institution | CGIAR Consortium |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2015 |
| publishDateRange | 2015 |
| publishDateSort | 2015 |
| publisher | International Food Policy Research Institute |
| publisherStr | International Food Policy Research Institute |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | CGSpace1497602025-11-06T07:19:17Z Living like there’s no tomorrow: Saving and spending following the Sichuan earthquake Filipski, Mateusz J. Jin, Ling Zhang, Xiaobo Chen, Kevin Z. expenditure mental health sociology shock natural disasters earthquakes psychology risk resilience currencies In addition to human casualties and physical damage to infrastructure, natural disasters affect survivors emotionally and psychologically. Research on such impacts has almost exclusively been confined to the medical field, and focused on severe conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder. The fact that emotional shocks and increased risk awareness may trigger changes in the preferences and behavior of economic agents has until now largely been ignored, including by economists. Based on panel datasets from China’s Sichuan province, which was struck by an earthquake in 2008, and using distance from epicenter as a proxy for earthquake severity, we empirically show that the saving and consumption behavior of households closer to the epicenter changed after the earthquake. They saved less, spent more lavishly on alcohol and cigarettes, and also played majiang (a Chinese game) more often. The magnitude of the estimated impact on saving behavior, a drop of 6 percentage points for each degree of earthquake intensity, is economically significant. It appears that the earthquake has induced a shift in people’s preferences characterized by a carpe diem attitude toward spending and greater preference for the present. 2015-09-18 2024-08-01T02:49:53Z 2024-08-01T02:49:53Z Working Paper https://hdl.handle.net/10568/149760 en http://www.nber.org/papers/w19515 https://hdl.handle.net/10568/151402 https://hdl.handle.net/10568/149762 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.euroecorev.2019.04.004 Open Access application/pdf International Food Policy Research Institute Filipski, Mateusz J.; Jin, Ling; Zhang, Xiaobo; Chen, Kevin Z. 2015. Living like there’s no tomorrow: Saving and spending following the Sichuan earthquake. IFPRI Discussion Paper 1461. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/149760 |
| spellingShingle | expenditure mental health sociology shock natural disasters earthquakes psychology risk resilience currencies Filipski, Mateusz J. Jin, Ling Zhang, Xiaobo Chen, Kevin Z. Living like there’s no tomorrow: Saving and spending following the Sichuan earthquake |
| title | Living like there’s no tomorrow: Saving and spending following the Sichuan earthquake |
| title_full | Living like there’s no tomorrow: Saving and spending following the Sichuan earthquake |
| title_fullStr | Living like there’s no tomorrow: Saving and spending following the Sichuan earthquake |
| title_full_unstemmed | Living like there’s no tomorrow: Saving and spending following the Sichuan earthquake |
| title_short | Living like there’s no tomorrow: Saving and spending following the Sichuan earthquake |
| title_sort | living like there s no tomorrow saving and spending following the sichuan earthquake |
| topic | expenditure mental health sociology shock natural disasters earthquakes psychology risk resilience currencies |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/149760 |
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