The Impact of Hurricane Strikes on Short-Term Local Economic Activity : Evidence from Nightlight Images in the Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic is highly exposed to adverse natural events putting the country at risk of losing hard-won economic, social, and environmental gains due to the impacts of disasters. This study uses monthly nightlight composites in conjunctio...
Main Authors: | , , |
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Format: | Working Paper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2017
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Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/482101513260134821/The-impact-of-hurricane-strikes-on-short-term-local-economic-activity-evidence-from-nightlight-images-in-the-Dominican-Republic http://hdl.handle.net/10986/29011 |
Summary: | The Dominican Republic is highly exposed
to adverse natural events putting the country at risk of
losing hard-won economic, social, and environmental gains
due to the impacts of disasters. This study uses monthly
nightlight composites in conjunction with a wind field model
to econometrically estimate the impact of tropical cyclones
on local economic activity in the Dominican Republic since
1992. It is found that the negative impact of storms lasts
up to 15 months after the strike, with the largest effect
observed after nine months. Translating the reduction in
nightlight intensity into monetary losses by relating it to
quarterly gross domestic product suggests that on average
the storms reduced gross domestic product by about US$1.1
billion (4.5 percent of gross domestic product in 2000 and
1.5 percent in 2016). |
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