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Natural Disasters and Early Human Development: Hurricane Catarina and Infant Health in Brazil

Author

Listed:
  • Victor Hugo de Oliveira

    (Instituto de Pesquisa e Estratégia Económica do Ceará)

  • Ines Lee

    (University of Cambridge)

  • Climent Quintana-Domeque

    (University of Exeter)

Abstract
We study the impacts of in utero exposure to Hurricane Catarina of March 2004, the first hurricane to hit Brazil. Catarina was unexpected and is representative of other recent hurricanes in the Americas in terms of wind speed, direct economic costs, and population affected. We use a triple differences strategy (close vs. far municipality, 2004 vs. 2003, after March vs. before) to highlight the importance of accounting for flexible season of birth effects compared to a standard differences-in-differences strategy. Using administrative data, we find that average birth weight declined and post-neonatal mortality increased among babies exposed to the hurricane in utero. The adverse effects are driven by babies of younger mothers. Our documented impacts are not explained by reductions in employment or healthcare use. Maternal stress seems to be a plausible mechanism if younger women are more financially vulnerable to negative shocks, consistent with recent work highlighting the relationship between socioeconomic status, stress, and birth outcomes. Our findings are robust to various checks, including testing for pre-trends in infant health outcomes.

Suggested Citation

  • Victor Hugo de Oliveira & Ines Lee & Climent Quintana-Domeque, 2021. "Natural Disasters and Early Human Development: Hurricane Catarina and Infant Health in Brazil," Working Papers 2021-005, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.
    • Handle: RePEc:hka:wpaper:2021-005
    Note: FI
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    3. Foudjo, Suzie Imelda & Keneck-Massil, Joseph, 2024. "Climate vulnerability and child health outcomes in developing countries: Do women's political empowerment and female education make the difference?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 351(C).
    4. Cortes, Darwin & Gómez, Catalina & Posso, Christian & Suarez, Gabriel, 2023. "Hunting Militias at All Cost: Urban Military Operation and Birth Outcomes," Documentos de Trabajo 20935, Universidad del Rosario.
    5. Lu, Wei & Yang, Po & Zheng, Shilin & Zhou, Sen, 2023. "Natural disasters and high-stakes exam performance: Evidence from the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    6. Markus Brueckner & Sudyumna Dahal & Haiyan Lin, 2024. "Natural Disasters and Human Development in Asia–Pacific: The Role of External Debt," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 17(6), pages 1-27, June.
    7. Jelnov, Pavel, 2021. "Sunset Long Shadows: Time, Crime, and Perception of Change," IZA Discussion Papers 14770, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Margaret Triyana & Xing Xia, 2023. "Selective Mortality and the Long‐Term Effects of Early‐Life Exposure to Natural Disasters," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 85(4), pages 773-804, August.
    9. Lin, Youhong & Liu, Feng & Xu, Peng, 2021. "Long-term effects of early-life exposure to tropical cyclones," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    10. Sundar Ponnusamy, 2022. "Natural disasters and missing children," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(2), pages 399-416, February.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    in utero shocks; infant health; birth weight; fetal mortality; infant mortality; healthcare use;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming

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