In the United States, direct losses from natural hazards are on the rise with hurricanes, flooding, and severe storms … contributing about three quarters of the total damages. While losses from severe storms have been stable over the past fifty years …, hurricane and flood losses have tripled. Per capita losses are also increasing showing that impacts outpace population growth …

, tend to manage earnings by manipulating discretionary accruals and real operating activities. Additional analysis suggests … target labor productivity and their tendency to manage earnings. To overcome the endogeneity problem, we employ an … labor productivity gap and earnings management is also consistent with the opportunistic financial reporting hypothesis and …