Long-term impacts of droughts on labor markets in developing countries: Evidence from Brazil

Climate shocks have well-documented impacts on the short-term welfare of rural households in developing countries. We investigate the impact of droughts on Brazilian labour markets. We find long-term rural wage losses beyond the immediate impact of the drought, with affected workers taking five year...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Mueller, Valerie, Osgood, Daniel Edward
Format: Journal Article
Language:Inglés
Published: Informa UK Limited 2009
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/162068
Description
Summary:Climate shocks have well-documented impacts on the short-term welfare of rural households in developing countries. We investigate the impact of droughts on Brazilian labour markets. We find long-term rural wage losses beyond the immediate impact of the drought, with affected workers taking five years to catch up with their peers. Findings are robust to model specification. The severity of the losses varies with the dependence on agricultural income, supporting the notion of diversifying portfolio strategies in rural areas to reduce climate-related income risk.