Vox:
Do floods shift economic activity to safer areas?
21 January 2016
During the past couple of months alone, floods have displaced 100,000 people or more in Kenya, in Paraguay and Uruguay, and in India, as well as more than 50,000 people in the UK. And rising sea levels due to climate change loom. This column assesses the risk and the challenges for policymakers. It details the effects of flooding in cities around the world, showing that economic activity is concentrated in low-elevation urban areas, despite their much greater exposure to flooding. And worryingly, economic activity tends to return to flood-prone low-lying areas rather than relocating.
This blog article was published online by Vox on January 21, 2016
Link to article here
Related publications
'Flooded Cities', Adriana Kocornik-Mina, Thomas K.J. McDermott, Guy Michaels and Ferdinand Rauch, Centre for Economic Performance Discussion Paper No.1398, December 2015
Related links
Guy Michaels webpage
Ferdinand Rauch webpage
Labour Markets Programme webpage
Trade Programme webpage