Open AccessThe Economic Impact of Hurricanes in History: Evidence from Sugar Exports in the Caribbean from 1700 to 1960
Author(s) -
Preeya Mohan,
Eric Strobl
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
weather, climate, and society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.014
H-Index - 35
eISSN - 1948-8335
pISSN - 1948-8327
DOI - 10.1175/wcas-d-12-00029.1
Subject(s) - sugar production , sugar , colonialism , economic impact analysis , history , geography , agricultural economics , economics , archaeology , biochemistry , microeconomics , chemistry
This study estimates the economic impact of hurricane strikes in the Caribbean from 1700 to 1960. More precisely, historical accounts of hurricane strikes and actual historical hurricane tracks, in conjunction with sugar export data taken from the colonial blue books and other historical sources, were used to create a cross-colony/country and time dataset that allows for the first time the ability to evaluate the susceptibility of local sugar production to hurricanes. The regression results show that these events had generally large statistically and economically significant impacts.