IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/arx/papers/2308.02739.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Fires and Local Labor Markets

Author

Listed:
  • Raphaelle G. Coulombe
  • Akhil Rao

Abstract

We study the dynamic effects of fires on county labor markets in the US using a novel geophysical measure of fire exposure based on satellite imagery. We find increased fire exposure causes lower employment growth in the short and medium run, with medium-run effects being linked to migration. We also document heterogeneous effects across counties by education and industrial concentration levels, states of the business cycle, and fire size. By overcoming challenges in measuring fire impacts, we identify vulnerable places and economic states, offering guidance on tailoring relief efforts and contributing to a broader understanding of natural disasters' economic impacts.

Suggested Citation

  • Raphaelle G. Coulombe & Akhil Rao, 2023. "Fires and Local Labor Markets," Papers 2308.02739, arXiv.org.
    • Handle: RePEc:arx:papers:2308.02739
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://arxiv.org/pdf/2308.02739
    File Function: Latest version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Clément de Chaisemartin & Xavier D'Haultfœuille, 2020. "Two-Way Fixed Effects Estimators with Heterogeneous Treatment Effects," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 110(9), pages 2964-2996, September.
    2. Jan Kluge, 2018. "Sectoral diversification as insurance against economic instability," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(1), pages 204-223, January.
    3. Noy, Ilan, 2009. "The macroeconomic consequences of disasters," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(2), pages 221-231, March.
    4. Long, Jason & Siu, Henry, 2018. "Refugees from Dust and Shrinking Land: Tracking the Dust Bowl Migrants," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 78(4), pages 1001-1033, December.
    5. Yasenov, Vasil, 2020. "Who Can Work from Home?," IZA Discussion Papers 13197, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Krugman, Paul, 1991. "Increasing Returns and Economic Geography," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 99(3), pages 483-499, June.
    7. Otrachshenko, Vladimir & Nunes, Luis C., 2022. "Fire takes no vacation: impact of fires on tourism," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 27(1), pages 86-101, February.
    8. Michael T. Owyang & Valerie A. Ramey & Sarah Zubairy, 2013. "Are government spending multipliers greater during periods of slack? evidence from 20th century historical data," Working Papers 2013-004, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
    9. Walls, Margaret A. & Wibbenmeyer, Matthew, 2023. "How Local are the Local Economic Impacts of Wildfires?," RFF Working Paper Series 23-03, Resources for the Future.
    10. Eduardo Cavallo & Sebastian Galiani & Ilan Noy & Juan Pantano, 2013. "Catastrophic Natural Disasters and Economic Growth," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 95(5), pages 1549-1561, December.
    11. Coulson, N. Edward & McCoy, Shawn J. & McDonough, Ian K., 2020. "Economic diversification and the resiliency hypothesis: Evidence from the impact of natural disasters on regional housing values," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    12. Mark Borgschulte & David Molitor & Eric Yongchen Zou, 2024. "Air Pollution and the Labor Market: Evidence from Wildfire Smoke," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 106(6), pages 1558-1575, November.
    13. Alloza, Mario & Sanz, Carlos, 2019. "Dynamic Effects of Persistent Shocks," UC3M Working papers. Economics 29187, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Departamento de Economía.
    14. Kieran T. Bhatia & Gabriel A. Vecchi & Thomas R. Knutson & Hiroyuki Murakami & James Kossin & Keith W. Dixon & Carolyn E. Whitlock, 2019. "Author Correction: Recent increases in tropical cyclone intensification rates," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 10(1), pages 1-1, December.
    15. Callaway, Brantly & Sant’Anna, Pedro H.C., 2021. "Difference-in-Differences with multiple time periods," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 225(2), pages 200-230.
    16. McCoy, Shawn J. & Walsh, Randall P., 2018. "Wildfire risk, salience & housing demand," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 203-228.
    17. Yasenov, Vasil, 2020. "Who Can Work from Home?," OSF Preprints 89k47, Center for Open Science.
    18. Michael T. Owyang & Valerie A. Ramey & Sarah Zubairy, 2013. "Are Government Spending Multipliers Greater during Periods of Slack? Evidence from Twentieth-Century Historical Data," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(3), pages 129-134, May.
    19. Abigail Wozniak, 2010. "Are College Graduates More Responsive to Distant Labor Market Opportunities?," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 45(4), pages 944-970.
    20. Gabriel A. Vecchi & Christopher Landsea & Wei Zhang & Gabriele Villarini & Thomas Knutson, 2021. "Changes in Atlantic major hurricane frequency since the late-19th century," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-9, December.
    21. Goodman-Bacon, Andrew, 2021. "Difference-in-differences with variation in treatment timing," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 225(2), pages 254-277.
    22. Doruk Cengiz & Arindrajit Dube & Attila Lindner & Ben Zipperer, 2019. "The Effect of Minimum Wages on Low-Wage Jobs," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 134(3), pages 1405-1454.
    23. Sun, Liyang & Abraham, Sarah, 2021. "Estimating dynamic treatment effects in event studies with heterogeneous treatment effects," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 225(2), pages 175-199.
    24. Sheldon, Tamara L. & Zhan, Crystal, 2022. "The impact of hurricanes and floods on domestic migration," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    25. Kieran T. Bhatia & Gabriel A. Vecchi & Thomas R. Knutson & Hiroyuki Murakami & James Kossin & Keith W. Dixon & Carolyn E. Whitlock, 2019. "Recent increases in tropical cyclone intensification rates," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 10(1), pages 1-9, December.
    26. Òscar Jordà, 2005. "Estimation and Inference of Impulse Responses by Local Projections," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(1), pages 161-182, March.
    27. Boustan, Leah Platt & Kahn, Matthew E. & Rhode, Paul W. & Yanguas, Maria Lucia, 2020. "The effect of natural disasters on economic activity in US counties: A century of data," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    28. Kieran T. Bhatia & Gabriel A. Vecchi & Thomas R. Knutson & Hiroyuki Murakami & James Kossin & Keith W. Dixon & Carolyn E. Whitlock, 2019. "Author Correction: Recent increases in tropical cyclone intensification rates," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 10(1), pages 1-1, December.
    29. Meier, Sarah & Elliott, Robert J.R. & Strobl, Eric, 2023. "The regional economic impact of wildfires: Evidence from Southern Europe," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    30. Kaffine, Daniel T. & Davis, Graham A., 2017. "A multi-row deletion diagnostic for influential observations in small-sample regressions," Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 133-145.
    31. Valerie A. Ramey & Sarah Zubairy, 2018. "Government Spending Multipliers in Good Times and in Bad: Evidence from US Historical Data," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 126(2), pages 850-901.
    32. repec:wsr:wpaper:y:2018:i:190 is not listed on IDEAS
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bas Scheer & Wiljan van den Berge & Maarten Goos & Alan Manning & Anna Salomons, 2022. "Alternative Work Arrangements and Worker Outcomes: Evidence from Payrolling," CPB Discussion Paper 435, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    2. Rik Chakraborti & Gavin Roberts, 2023. "How price-gouging regulation undermined COVID-19 mitigation: county-level evidence of unintended consequences," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 196(1), pages 51-83, July.
    3. Hashida, Yukiko & Dundas, Steven J., 2023. "The effects of a voluntary property buyout and acquisition program on coastal housing markets: Evidence from New York," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    4. Ethan Ilzetzki, 2024. "Learning by Necessity: Government Demand, Capacity Constraints, and Productivity Growth," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 114(8), pages 2436-2471, August.
    5. Chen, Jidong & Shi, Xinzheng & Zhang, Ming-ang & Zhang, Sihan, 2024. "Centralization of environmental administration and air pollution: Evidence from China," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    6. Hoyos, Mateo, 2024. "Tariffs and Growth: Heterogeneity by Economic Structure," SocArXiv v75aw, Center for Open Science.
    7. Cl'ement de Chaisemartin & Xavier D'Haultf{oe}uille, 2021. "Two-Way Fixed Effects and Differences-in-Differences with Heterogeneous Treatment Effects: A Survey," Papers 2112.04565, arXiv.org, revised Jun 2022.
    8. Taylor, Alan M. & Dube, Arindrajit & Girardi, Daniele & Jordà , Òscar, 2023. "A Local Projections Approach to Difference-in-Differences Event Studies," CEPR Discussion Papers 18141, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    9. Davidson, Carl & Heyman, Fredrik & Matusz, Steven & Sjöholm, Fredrik & Chun Zhu, Susan, 2022. "How International Experience Helps Shape Labor Market Outcomes," Working Paper Series 1453, Research Institute of Industrial Economics, revised 09 Jun 2024.
    10. Melnik, Walter & Smyth, Andrew, 2024. "R&D tax credits and innovation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 236(C).
    11. OKUDAIRA Hiroko & TAKIZAWA Miho & YAMANOUCHI Kenta, 2022. "Does Employee Downsizing Work? Evidence from Product Innovation at Manufacturing Plants," Discussion papers 22015, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    12. Brick, Kerri & De Martino, Samantha & Visser, Martine, 2023. "Behavioural nudges for water conservation in unequal settings: Experimental evidence from Cape Town," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    13. Roth, Jonathan & Sant’Anna, Pedro H.C. & Bilinski, Alyssa & Poe, John, 2023. "What’s trending in difference-in-differences? A synthesis of the recent econometrics literature," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 235(2), pages 2218-2244.
    14. Marcel Henkel, Eunjee Kwon, Pierre Magontier, 2022. "The Unintended Consequences of Post-Disaster Policies for Spatial Sorting," Diskussionsschriften credresearchpaper37, Universitaet Bern, Departement Volkswirtschaft - CRED.
    15. Andrea Mattozzi & Samuel Nocito & Francesco Sobbrio, 2022. "Fact-Checking Politicians," CESifo Working Paper Series 10122, CESifo.
    16. Dennis C. Hutschenreiter & Anna Toldrà -Simats & Bing Guo & David Pérez-Castrillo, 2023. "Institutional Blockholders and Corporate Innovation," Working Papers 1390, Barcelona School of Economics.
    17. Tien Manh Vu & Hiroyuki Yamada, 2021. "Firms and regional favouritism," Economics of Transition and Institutional Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(4), pages 711-734, October.
    18. Elisa Facchetti & Lorenzo Neri & Marco Ovidi, 2021. "Should you Meet The Parents? The impact of information on non-test score attributes on school choice," DISCE - Working Papers del Dipartimento di Economia e Finanza def113, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Dipartimenti e Istituti di Scienze Economiche (DISCE).
    19. Mensah, Edouard R. & Filipski, Mateusz J., 2022. "Saving for a rainy day: the impact of natural disasters on savings rates," 2022 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Anaheim, California 322266, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    20. Tobin, Zachary, 2024. "How do public schools respond to competition? Evidence from a charter school expansion," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:arx:papers:2308.02739. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: arXiv administrators (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://arxiv.org/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.