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Impact of natural disasters on industrial agglomeration: The case of the Great Kantō Earthquake in 1923

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  • Imaizumi, Asuka
  • Ito, Kaori
  • Okazaki, Tetsuji

Abstract

The Great Kantō Earthquake in 1923 did enormous damage to industries in Tokyo Prefecture. Around 40% of the buildings in Tokyo Prefecture were completely burnt or destroyed. In this paper, we investigate whether this temporary shock had a persistent impact on the spatial distribution of industries in Tokyo, using ward- and county-level panel data for industrial workers. It was found that while the earthquake caused mean shifts in the shares and numbers of workers, these mean shifts disappeared by the early 1930s. On the other hand, the earthquake caused shifts in the trends in the share and number of workers. The combined effects of these mean shifts and trend shifts were persistent for both the shares and the numbers of workers. The earthquake caused especially serious damage to the old industrial clusters in the southeast of Tokyo, and provided an opportunity for newly developing industrial clusters in non-damaged areas to take over the market. Further, the people and the local governments in non-damaged areas made an effort to take advantage of this opportunity to attract factories. Arguably, these forces made the impact of the earthquake on the spatial distribution of industry persistent.

Suggested Citation

  • Imaizumi, Asuka & Ito, Kaori & Okazaki, Tetsuji, 2016. "Impact of natural disasters on industrial agglomeration: The case of the Great Kantō Earthquake in 1923," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 52-68.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:exehis:v:60:y:2016:i:c:p:52-68
    DOI: 10.1016/j.eeh.2015.11.005
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    Cited by:

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    2. Preeya Mohan & Toshihiro Okubo & Eric Strobl, 2020. "Natural Disasters and Industrial Production Efficiency: Evidence from Prewar Japan," Keio-IES Discussion Paper Series 2020-006, Institute for Economics Studies, Keio University.
    3. Zhou, Ziqiao & Zhang, Lin, 2021. "Destructive destruction or creative destruction? Unraveling the effects of tropical cyclones on economic growth," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 380-393.
    4. Siodla, James, 2021. "Firms, fires, and firebreaks: The impact of the 1906 San Francisco disaster on business agglomeration," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    5. Toshihiro Okubo & Eric Strobl, 2021. "Natural disasters, firm survival, and growth: Evidence from the Ise Bay Typhoon, Japan," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(5), pages 944-970, November.
    6. Siodla, James, 2017. "Clean slate: Land-use changes in San Francisco after the 1906 disaster," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 1-16.
    7. Wang, Qian & Wang, Yanan & Chen, Wei & Zhou, Xue & Zhao, Minjuan & Zhang, Bangbang, 2020. "Do land price variation and environmental regulation improve chemical industrial agglomeration? A regional analysis in China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Industrial agglomeration; Economic geography; Natural disaster; Economic history; Japan;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • R11 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, and Changes
    • R12 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity; Interregional Trade (economic geography)
    • N95 - Economic History - - Regional and Urban History - - - Asia including Middle East

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