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Taken By Storm: Business Survival In The Aftermath Of Hurricane Katrina

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  • Emek Basker
  • Javier Miranda

Abstract

We use Hurricane Katrina's damage to the Mississippi coast in 2005 as a natural experiment to study business survival in the aftermath of a cost shock. We find that damaged establishments that returned to operation were more resilient than those that had never been damaged. This effect is particularly strong for establishments belonging to younger and smaller rms. The effect of damage on establishments in older and larger chains was more limited, and they were subsequently less resilient having survived the damage. These selection effects persist up to five years after the initial shock. We interpret these findings as evidence that the effect of the shock is tied to the presence of financial and other constraints.

Suggested Citation

  • Emek Basker & Javier Miranda, 2014. "Taken By Storm: Business Survival In The Aftermath Of Hurricane Katrina," Working Papers 14-20, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    • Handle: RePEc:cen:wpaper:14-20
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    File URL: https://www2.census.gov/ces/wp/2014/CES-WP-14-20.pdf
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    Cited by:

    1. Ihtisham A. Malik & Robert Faff, 2022. "Industry market reaction to natural disasters: do firm characteristics and disaster magnitude matter?," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 111(3), pages 2963-2994, April.
    2. Yen E. Lam-González & Carmelo J. León & Javier de León & Chaitanya Suárez-Rojas, 2022. "The Impact of Degradation of Islands’ Land Ecosystems Due to Climate Change on Tourists’ Travel Decisions," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-16, September.
    3. Jeffrey A. Groen† & Mark J. Kutzbach & Anne E. Polivka‡, 2015. "Storms and Jobs: The Effect of Hurricanes on Individuals’ Employment and Earnings over the Long Term," Working Papers 15-21r, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    4. Adriana Kocornik-Mina & Thomas K. J. McDermott & Guy Michaels & Ferdinand Rauch, 2020. "Flooded Cities," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 12(2), pages 35-66, April.
    5. Sandra Sydnor & Linda Niehm & Yoon Lee & Maria Marshall & Holly Schrank, 2017. "Analysis of post-disaster damage and disruptive impacts on the operating status of small businesses after Hurricane Katrina," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 85(3), pages 1637-1663, February.
    6. Pavel Castka & Cory Searcy & Sönke Fischer, 2020. "Technology-enhanced Auditing in Voluntary Sustainability Standards: The Impact of COVID-19," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-24, June.
    7. Benjamin L. Collier & Andrew F. Haughwout & Howard C. Kunreuther & Erwann O. Michel‐Kerjan, 2020. "Firms’ Management of Infrequent Shocks," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 52(6), pages 1329-1359, September.
    8. Jeffrey A. Groen & Mark J. Kutzbach & Anne E. Polivka, 2020. "Storms and Jobs: The Effect of Hurricanes on Individuals’ Employment and Earnings over the Long Term," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 38(3), pages 653-685.
    9. Justin Gallagher & Daniel Hartley, 2017. "Household Finance after a Natural Disaster: The Case of Hurricane Katrina," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 9(3), pages 199-228, August.
    10. Jutta-Lucia Leis & Stefan Kienberger, 2020. "Climate Risk and Vulnerability Assessment of Floods in Austria: Mapping Homogenous Regions, Hotspots and Typologies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(16), pages 1-21, August.
    11. Richard Fabling & Arthur Grimes & Levente Timar, 2014. "Natural Selection: Firm Performance Following the Canterbury Earthquakes," Working Papers 14_08, Motu Economic and Public Policy Research.
    12. Fengjun Liu & Lu Meng & Yijun Zhao & Shen Duan, 2020. "The influence of the corporate social responsibility disclosures on consumer brand attitudes under the impact of COVID-19," Frontiers of Business Research in China, Springer, vol. 14(1), pages 1-22, December.
    13. Matthew A. Cole & Robert J R Elliott & Toshihiro Okubo & Eric Strobl, 2014. "Natural Disasters and the Birth, Life and Death of Plants: The Case of the Kobe Earthquake," Working Papers 2014-114, Department of Research, Ipag Business School.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Retail; chain; credit constraints; hurricane; Katrina; natural disaster; exit;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D22 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Empirical Analysis
    • L11 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Production, Pricing, and Market Structure; Size Distribution of Firms
    • L81 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Retail and Wholesale Trade; e-Commerce
    • L83 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Sports; Gambling; Restaurants; Recreation; Tourism
    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming

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