THE ECONOMIC GROWTH IMPACT OF HURRICANES: EVIDENCE FROM U.S. COASTAL COUNTIES

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Strobl, Eric
• 刊物名称: REVIEW OF ECONOMICS AND STATISTICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0034-6535
• DOI: 10.1162/REST_a_00082
• 发表日期: 2011-05
• 页码: 575-589
• 关键词: UNITED-STATES; disasters

摘要

I estimate the impact of hurricane strikes on local economic growth rates. To this end, I assemble a panel data set of U.S. coastal counties' growth rates and construct a novel hurricane destruction index that is based on a monetary loss equation, local wind speed estimates derived from a physical wind field model, and local exposure characteristics. The econometric results suggest that a county's annual economic growth rate falls on average by 0.45 percentage points, 28% of it due to richer individuals moving away from affected counties. I also find that the impact of hurricanes is netted out in annual terms at the state level and does not affect national economic growth rates at all.