Direct and Indirect Effects of Extreme Weather Events and Potential Estimation Biases

The literature analyzing the effects of extreme weather events on social and economic outcomes has increased significantly in the last few years. Most of these analyses use either self-reported data about whether the storm affected the respondent or aggregated data such as precipitation at municipal...

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Main Authors: Robalino, Juan, Sandoval, Catalina, Abarca, Alejandro
Format: Artículo
Language:Inglés
Published: 2020
Subjects:
Online Access:https://repositorio.catie.ac.cr/handle/11554/9512
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author Robalino, Juan
Sandoval, Catalina
Abarca, Alejandro
author_browse Abarca, Alejandro
Robalino, Juan
Sandoval, Catalina
author_facet Robalino, Juan
Sandoval, Catalina
Abarca, Alejandro
author_sort Robalino, Juan
collection Repositorio CATIE
description The literature analyzing the effects of extreme weather events on social and economic outcomes has increased significantly in the last few years. Most of these analyses use either self-reported data about whether the storm affected the respondent or aggregated data such as precipitation at municipality level. We argue that these estimates might be biased due to the inclusion of households that are not directly affected but live close enough to be indirectly affected through economic or government assistance spillovers. Using data for Guatemala, we estimate separately the direct and indirect effects of Tropical Storm Stan on subjective economic well-being. We find that households that were directly affected by Stan are significantly more likely to report being poorer after the storm. We also find that the direct effects of the storm are similar in poor and less-poor agricultural municipalities. However, in non-agricultural municipalities, the effects are larger in less-poor municipalities. Reducing poverty rates might not be enough to address the problems related to climate shocks, which are expected to increase with climate change. We also find that households indirectly affected in non-poor municipalities reported being significantly worse off and households indirectly affected in poor municipalities reported being significantly better off. Given that shocks and responses to shocks will likely affect households that were not directly exposed, estimates of these effects are difficult to measure without simultaneously considering exposure data at both the household level and municipality level.
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spelling RepoCATIE95122021-12-22T19:09:50Z Direct and Indirect Effects of Extreme Weather Events and Potential Estimation Biases Robalino, Juan Sandoval, Catalina Abarca, Alejandro FENOMENOS METEOROLOGICOS ESTIMACION CLIMA BIENESTAR SOCIAL ANALISIS ENCUESTAS POBREZA AGRICULTURA VULNERABILIDAD GUATEMALA The literature analyzing the effects of extreme weather events on social and economic outcomes has increased significantly in the last few years. Most of these analyses use either self-reported data about whether the storm affected the respondent or aggregated data such as precipitation at municipality level. We argue that these estimates might be biased due to the inclusion of households that are not directly affected but live close enough to be indirectly affected through economic or government assistance spillovers. Using data for Guatemala, we estimate separately the direct and indirect effects of Tropical Storm Stan on subjective economic well-being. We find that households that were directly affected by Stan are significantly more likely to report being poorer after the storm. We also find that the direct effects of the storm are similar in poor and less-poor agricultural municipalities. However, in non-agricultural municipalities, the effects are larger in less-poor municipalities. Reducing poverty rates might not be enough to address the problems related to climate shocks, which are expected to increase with climate change. We also find that households indirectly affected in non-poor municipalities reported being significantly worse off and households indirectly affected in poor municipalities reported being significantly better off. Given that shocks and responses to shocks will likely affect households that were not directly exposed, estimates of these effects are difficult to measure without simultaneously considering exposure data at both the household level and municipality level. 2020-08-25T00:16:13Z 2020-08-25T00:16:13Z 2015-11 Artículo https://repositorio.catie.ac.cr/handle/11554/9512 en Environment for Development (November 2015) info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess application/pdf
spellingShingle FENOMENOS METEOROLOGICOS
ESTIMACION
CLIMA
BIENESTAR SOCIAL
ANALISIS
ENCUESTAS
POBREZA
AGRICULTURA
VULNERABILIDAD
GUATEMALA
Robalino, Juan
Sandoval, Catalina
Abarca, Alejandro
Direct and Indirect Effects of Extreme Weather Events and Potential Estimation Biases
title Direct and Indirect Effects of Extreme Weather Events and Potential Estimation Biases
title_full Direct and Indirect Effects of Extreme Weather Events and Potential Estimation Biases
title_fullStr Direct and Indirect Effects of Extreme Weather Events and Potential Estimation Biases
title_full_unstemmed Direct and Indirect Effects of Extreme Weather Events and Potential Estimation Biases
title_short Direct and Indirect Effects of Extreme Weather Events and Potential Estimation Biases
title_sort direct and indirect effects of extreme weather events and potential estimation biases
topic FENOMENOS METEOROLOGICOS
ESTIMACION
CLIMA
BIENESTAR SOCIAL
ANALISIS
ENCUESTAS
POBREZA
AGRICULTURA
VULNERABILIDAD
GUATEMALA
url https://repositorio.catie.ac.cr/handle/11554/9512
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AT sandovalcatalina directandindirecteffectsofextremeweathereventsandpotentialestimationbiases
AT abarcaalejandro directandindirecteffectsofextremeweathereventsandpotentialestimationbiases