Macroeconomic Implications of Natural Disasters in the Caribbean
December 1, 2004
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Summary
Each year natural disasters affect about 200 million people and cause about $50 billion in damage. This paper compares the incidence of natural disasters across countries along several dimensions and finds that the relative costs tend to be far higher in developing countries than in advanced economies. The analysis shows that small island states are especially vulnerable, with the countries of the Eastern Caribbean standing out as among the most disaster-prone in the world. Natural disasters are found to have had a discernible macroeconomic impact, including large effects on fiscal and external balances, pointing to an important role for precautionary measures.
Subject: Environment, Financial institutions, Fiscal policy, Fiscal stance, Insurance, National accounts, Natural disasters, Personal income, Population and demographics
Keywords: Caribbean, countries of the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union, country, Developing Countries, Eastern Caribbean, ECCU country, ECCU insurance market, Fiscal stance, GDP, Global, government, Insurance, island state, market, market insurance, Natural Disasters, Personal income, price, WP
Pages:
25
Volume:
2004
DOI:
Issue:
224
Series:
Working Paper No. 2004/224
Stock No:
WPIEA2242004
ISBN:
9781451875355
ISSN:
1018-5941
