In this article, we investigate the long‐run relationships among disasters, capital accumulation, total factor productivity, and economic growth. The cross‐country empirical analysis demonstrates that higher frequencies of climatic disasters are correlated with higher rates of human capital accumulation, increases in total factor productivity, and economic growth. Though disaster risk reduces the expected rate of return to physical capital, risk also serves to increase the relative return to human capital. Thus, physical capital investment may fall, but there is also a substitution toward human capital investment. Disasters also provide the impetus to update the capital stock and adopt new technologies, leading to improvements in total factor productivity.

No abstract

While the hedonic price model has been used to evaluate willingness to pay in a variety of markets, its use in the tourism industry is limited. This research note highlights the usefulness of the hedonic price technique in this industry by evaluating willingness to pay for specific characteristics of bed and breakfast accommodations. Heterogeneity in price and amenities offered by bed and breakfast accommodations enables us to generate estimates of willingness to pay for specific characteristics. Using data on price and amenities collected from bed and breakfast accommodations in Southeast Wisconsin, the findings show a willingness to pay for specific characteristics such as a hot tub, a private bath, and a larger room. However, fireplaces, themes, scenic views, and room service were not statistically significant determinants of price. Location characteristics, day of week, and time of year are also found to be important.

Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. In this paper we investigate the long-run relationship between disasters and societal trust. A growing body research suggests that factors such as income inequality, ethnic fractionalization, and religious heritage are important determinants of social capital in general, and trust in particular. We present new cross-country evidence of another important determinant of trust-the frequency of natural disasters. Frequent naturally occurring events such as storms require (and provide opportunity for) societies to work closely together to meet their challenges. While severe storms can have devastating human and economic impacts, a potential spillover benefit of greater storm exposure may be a more tightly knit society. Terms of use: Documents in EconStor mayJEL-Code: O100, Q540.

Natural and manmade crises impact community-level behavioral health, including mental health and substance use. This article shares findings from a larger project about community behavioral health, relevant to the ongoing water crisis in Flint, Michigan, using data from a larger study, involving monthly surveys of a panel of key informants from Genesee County. The data come from open-response questions and are analyzed as qualitative data using grounded theory techniques. Although respondents were not asked about the water issues in Flint, participants commented that the water situation was increasing stress, anxiety, and depression among the city’s population. Participants thought these mental health issues would affect the entire community but would be worse among low-income, African American populations in the city. Mental health consequences were related not only to the water contamination but to distrust of public officials who are expected and have the authority to resolve the issues. The mental health effects of this public health crisis are significant and have received inadequate attention in the literature. Public health response to situations similar to the water issues in Flint should include sustained attention mental health.

"We use monthly gasoline price data for all 50 U.S. states over the period 1984-1999 to examine the incidence of state gasoline excise taxes. Our estimation results indicate full shifting of gasoline taxes to the final consumer. In addition, although we find that gasoline retail prices demonstrate asymmetric responses to changes in "gasoline wholesale prices", we find only limited evidence of such behavior for retail prices with respect to "gasoline excise taxes. "Finally, we find that gasoline markets in urban states exhibit full shifting, but those in rural states (with less competition) demonstrate somewhat less than full shifting". ("JEL "H22) Copyright (c) 2008 Western Economic Association International.

No abstract

No abstract