Major
International Development Economics
Research Abstract
Do natural disasters impact educational attainment? Education as a paramount factor of economic development, suffers from the uncontrollable effects of these increasing events from storms to floods, earthquakes to wildfires. Globally, educational resources are destroyed directly and indirectly, students and teachers are displaced or killed, incomes of parents are affected as well. Investments in human capital for rich- and low-income countries are exposed to the uneven impact of natural disasters that adjusts household and country-level decisions, leaving them to short and long run losses. Exploring the influence of natural disasters one primary school completion across a sample of countries from 1960 to 2010, we employ a panel data set from the Emergency Events data set, maintained by the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) and Barro-Lee data set among other sources; and year and country fixed effects strategy to investigate the link between natural disasters and educational attainment. Results show that the intensity of natural disasters have greater effect on educational attainment than deaths and damages from these disasters. Disinvestment from human capital caused by these disasters generate delayed effects on economic development. Consequently, while natural disasters cannot be averted, its damages can be curtailed, therefore, it is crucial to inform policies that drive countries to a conscientious effort for high-performance social intervention programs; and motivate an urgency for climate change.
Faculty Mentor/Advisor
Jesse Antilla-Hughes
Included in
The Impact of Natural Disasters on Education Outcomes
Do natural disasters impact educational attainment? Education as a paramount factor of economic development, suffers from the uncontrollable effects of these increasing events from storms to floods, earthquakes to wildfires. Globally, educational resources are destroyed directly and indirectly, students and teachers are displaced or killed, incomes of parents are affected as well. Investments in human capital for rich- and low-income countries are exposed to the uneven impact of natural disasters that adjusts household and country-level decisions, leaving them to short and long run losses. Exploring the influence of natural disasters one primary school completion across a sample of countries from 1960 to 2010, we employ a panel data set from the Emergency Events data set, maintained by the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) and Barro-Lee data set among other sources; and year and country fixed effects strategy to investigate the link between natural disasters and educational attainment. Results show that the intensity of natural disasters have greater effect on educational attainment than deaths and damages from these disasters. Disinvestment from human capital caused by these disasters generate delayed effects on economic development. Consequently, while natural disasters cannot be averted, its damages can be curtailed, therefore, it is crucial to inform policies that drive countries to a conscientious effort for high-performance social intervention programs; and motivate an urgency for climate change.
