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Sri Lankan Households a Decade after the Indian Ocean Tsunami

Author

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  • Diana De Alwis
  • Ilan Noy
Abstract
We estimate the causal effect of the Indian Ocean tsunami in Sri Lanka on household income and consumption eight years after the event, using a quasi-experimental method. A strong association between area-wide tsunami disaster shock and increases in household income and consumption in the long-term emerged from our empirical investigation. Deviating from the common observation on short-term impacts, these results are suggestive of an optimistic potential for some long-lasting potentially successful recovery scenarios. Still, Sri Lanka received a very large amount of external transfers post-tsunami, much larger than is typical for disaster events and one which may not be replicable in other cases. Our findings suggest a more nuanced picture with respect to household consumption impacts. We observe a reduction of food consumption and only find an increase in non-food consumption. The increase in non-food consumption is much smaller than the observed increase in income. We also find that households in high-income regions experienced much better recovery from the disaster.

Suggested Citation

  • Diana De Alwis & Ilan Noy, 2016. "Sri Lankan Households a Decade after the Indian Ocean Tsunami," CESifo Working Paper Series 6136, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_6136
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    Cited by:

    1. Ilan Noy & Eric Strobl, 2023. "Creatively Destructive Hurricanes: Do Disasters Spark Innovation?," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 84(1), pages 1-17, January.
    2. De Alwis, Diana, 2018. "Distributional impacts of disaster recovery: Sri Lankan households a decade after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami," Working Paper Series 20321, Victoria University of Wellington, School of Economics and Finance.
    3. Najeeb, Fatima, 2024. "Deepening Inequalities? Evidence from Floods in Bangladesh," 2024 Annual Meeting, July 28-30, New Orleans, LA 343567, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    4. Diana De Alwis & Ilan Noy, 2019. "The Cost of Being Under the Weather: Droughts, Floods, and Health-Care Costs in Sri Lanka," Asian Development Review, MIT Press, vol. 36(2), pages 185-214, September.
    5. Matteo Coronese & Davide Luzzati, 2022. "Economic impacts of natural hazards and complexity science: a critical review," LEM Papers Series 2022/13, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy.
    6. Diana Alwis, 2020. "Distributional Impacts of Disaster Recovery: Sri Lankan Households a Decade after the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami," Economics of Disasters and Climate Change, Springer, vol. 4(1), pages 195-222, April.
    7. Sally Owen & Ilan Noy & Jacob Pástor-Paz & David Fleming, 2019. "EQC and extreme weather events (part 2): Measuring the impact of insurance on New Zealand landslip, storm and flood recovery using nightlights," Working Papers 19_19, Motu Economic and Public Policy Research.
    8. De Alwis, Diana, 2018. "Distributional impacts of disaster recovery: Sri Lankan households a decade after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami," Working Paper Series 6980, Victoria University of Wellington, School of Economics and Finance.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Sri Lanka; tsunami; disaster; household survey; long-run impact;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming
    • R11 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, and Changes

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