The impact of natural disasters on household income, expenditure, poverty and inequality: evidence from Vietnam

Anh Tuan Bui, Mardi Dungey*, Cuong Viet Nguyen, Thu Phuong Pham

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

116 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Natural disasters are expected exacerbate poverty and inequality, but little evidence exists to support the impact at household level. This article examines the effect of natural disasters on household income, expenditure, poverty and inequality using the Vietnam Household Living Standard Survey in 2008. The effects of a natural disaster on household income and expenditure, corrected for fixed effects and potential endogeneity bias, are estimated at 6.9% and 7.1% declines in Vietnamese household per capita income and expenditure, respectively. Natural disasters demonstrably worsen expenditure poverty and inequality in Vietnam, and thus should be considered as a factor in designing poverty alleviation policies.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1751-1766
Number of pages16
JournalApplied Economics
Volume46
Issue number15
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 May 2014

Keywords

  • hazards
  • disasters
  • natural shocks
  • poverty
  • inequality
  • Vietnam
  • GROWTH

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