We quantify the ‘permanent’ socio-economic impacts of the Great Hanshin-Awaji (Kobe) earthquake in 1995 by employing a large-scale panel data set of 1,719 wards from Japan over three decades. In order to overcome a fundamental difficulty of identifying the counterfactual, i.e., the Kobe...

In this paper, we provide selective evidence on the impact of natural and manmade disasters on household welfare. First, we consider ex ante risk management and ex post risk-coping behaviors separately, showing evidence from the Asian economic crisis, earthquakes, and tsunami disasters. Second,...

This research explores the changing structure of the rural economy in the Philippines from 1988 to 2006. We found that the expansion and upgrade of infrastructure such as electricity and roads and investment in secondary and tertiary education are important factors that induced the economic...

Applying the ordered probit model to household data, we investigate people's behavior against unexpected losses caused by the Great Hanshin-Awaji (Kobe) earthquake in 1995. We found that credit market played an important role in providing an effective risk-coping measure. In the process of...

This article examines the empirical validity of immiserizing growth by using the revealed preference framework, together with macroeconomic growth data. We identify 26 episodes of immiserizing growth in the post-war world economy, mostly in Africa and Latin America. We also test statistically...

In responding to the challenge of rapid population aging in Asia, promoting healthy and active aging has become a key policy priority in many countries.There is an opportunity to realize a "silver demographic dividend" by harnessing the potential of healthy and productive older people. This...