Open AccessThe impact of disasters on economic growth in selected Southern Africa development community countries
Author(s) -
Emmanuel Owusu-Sekyere,
Wilfred Lunga,
S. Karuaihe
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
jàmbá
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.424
H-Index - 12
eISSN - 2072-845X
pISSN - 1996-1421
DOI - 10.4102/jamba.v13i1.1081
Subject(s) - development economics , geography , economic growth , economic geography , socioeconomics , economics
This research study explores the impact of disasters on economic growth in selected Southern Africa Development Community countries. Annual data from 2005 to 2019 and panel data econometric estimation techniques are used in this study. The estimation approaches used control for both pooled and individual effects, heteroscedasticity, serial correlation, moderate levels of endogeneity and cross-sectional dependence (CSD). We found that although the impact of disasters on economic growth may be negative contemporaneously, reconstruction and recovery activities if well-resourced could facilitate building back better, which could ultimately lead to positive outcomes on economic growth a year after the disaster. We further tested the hypothesis in existing literature and confirm that quality institutions, favourable financial conditions and adequate access to international markets enhance a country’s coping and adaptive capabilities to disasters, thereby reducing the country’s level of risk to disasters.