We estimate and compare the effects of small and large irrigation dams on cropland productivity in South Africa (SA). To this end we construct a panel data set of SA river basins. The econometric analysis reveals that while large dams increase cropland productivity downstream, they have a...

In recent years, natural disasters from Hurricane Katrina to the Fukushima earthquake have grabbed the attention of the public, policymakers and academics. In this paper we contribute to this relatively new literature and examine the impact of the 1995 Kobe earthquake on the survival of...

Hurricanes act as large external shocks potentially causing considerable damage to agricultural production in the Caribbean. While a number of existing studies have estimated their historic economic impact, arguably the wider community and policy makers are more concerned about their future risk...

We investigate the determinants of innovation and the benefits from it in making firms more productive in the Caribbean. To this end we use a rich firm level dataset covering 14 different countries and various non-parametric, semi- parametric and parametric statistical tools. Our results show...

This paper investigates the determinants of crop yield and profit of small family farms in Senegal using both a production and a profit function. The econometric analysis is based on information on agricultural inputs and outputs from 505 agricultural household members of a farmer organization...

History has shown that hurricanes can cause catastrophic destruction and impede economic growth in the Caribbean. Nevertheless, there is essentially as of date no comprehensive quantitative risk and anticipated loss assessment for the region. In this paper we use synthetic hurricane tracks and...

This analysis considers the importance of water availability in crop growth at the crop plot level in South Africa. We focus on the four major grain producing provinces: Northwest, Mpumalanga, Free State and Gauteng. To this end we estimate the determinants of biomass production along the crop...

We show in a monopsony model that in response to a small increase in migration employment will increase in both low productivity non-compliant firms who pay less than and in high productivity firms who pay more than the minimum wage, but will increase by proportionately more in minimum wage...

We estimate the impact of internal migration on local labour markets in Thailand. Using an instrumental variable approach based on weather and distance we estimate an exogenous measure of the net migration inflow into each region. Our results show that instrumenting for the possible endogeneity...

We explore the fiscal impacts of hurricane strikes. To this end we derive a damage index from a physical wind field model, and assemble a panel data set of Caribbean countries over 36 years. Our results, based on panel var and impulse response frameworks, show that a typical strike significantly...