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Natural disasters and social capital formation: The impact of the Great Hanshin-Awaji earthquake

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  • Eiji Yamamura

Abstract

The Great Hanshin-Awaji (Kobe) earthquake struck Japan in 1995, causing devastating damage to the economic landscape of south-central Japan. The earthquake also caused people to realize the importance of social capital in Japan. Based on a large, individual-level database comprising 488,223 observations, this study investigated how, and the extent to which, the earthquake enhanced the investment in social capital through participation in community activity. The differences-in-differences method was used, and the following key findings were obtained: (1) In Japan, people were more likely to invest in social capital in 1996 than in 1991, (2) the effects of the earthquake decreased as the distance of one’s place of residence increased from Kobe, and (3) the earthquake significantly increased the social capital investment rate of Kobe residents, whereas it had no significant influence on the investment rate of residents of large cities close to Kobe.

Suggested Citation

  • Eiji Yamamura, 2013. "Natural disasters and social capital formation: The impact of the Great Hanshin-Awaji earthquake," EERI Research Paper Series EERI RP 2013/10, Economics and Econometrics Research Institute (EERI), Brussels.
    • Handle: RePEc:eei:rpaper:eeri_rp_2013_10
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    1. Natural disasters and social capital (Japan)
      by UDADISI in UDADISI on 2013-03-25 17:10:00

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    Cited by:

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    2. William duPont IV & Ilan Noy & Yoko Okuyama & Yasuyuki Sawada, 2015. "The Long-Run Socio-Economic Consequences of a Large Disaster: The 1995 Earthquake in Kobe," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(10), pages 1-17, October.
    3. Eiji Yamamura & Yoshiro Tsutsui & Chisako Yamane & Shoko Yamane & Nattavudh Powdthavee, 2015. "Trust and Happiness: Comparative Study Before and After the Great East Japan Earthquake," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 123(3), pages 919-935, September.
    4. Eiji Yamamura & Chisako Yamane & Shoko Yamane & Yoshiro Tsutsui, 2022. "Effect of major disasters on geographic mobility intentions: the case of the Fukushima nuclear accident," Chapters, in: Mark Skidmore (ed.), Handbook on the Economics of Disasters, chapter 14, pages 275-291, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    5. Yamamura, Eiji & Tsutsui, Yoshiro & Ohtake, Fumio, 2018. "Altruistic and selfish motivations of charitable giving: The case of the hometown tax donation system (Furusato nozei) in Japan," MPRA Paper 86181, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Eiji Yamamura, 2021. "Do You Want Sustainable Olympics? Environment, Disaster, Gender, and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-14, November.
    7. Noy, Ilan & Ferrarini, Benno & Park, Donghyun, 2019. "Build Back Better: What Is It, and What Should It Be?," ADB Economics Working Paper Series 600, Asian Development Bank.
    8. Fabio Sabatini & Francesco Sarracino, 2017. "Online Networks and Subjective Well-Being," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 70(3), pages 456-480, August.
    9. Bai, Yu & Li, Yanjun, 2021. "More suffering, more involvement? The causal effects of seismic disasters on social capital," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    10. Eiji Yamamura & Yoshiro Tsutsui & Fumio Ohtake, 2017. "Altruistic and selfish motivations of charitable giving:Case of the hometown tax donation system in Japan," ISER Discussion Paper 1003, Institute of Social and Economic Research, Osaka University.
    11. Eiji Yamamura & Yoshiro Tsutsui & Fumio Ohtake, 2023. "An analysis of altruistic and selfish motivations underlying hometown tax donations in Japan," The Japanese Economic Review, Springer, vol. 74(1), pages 29-55, January.
    12. Ivo Steimanis & Max Burger & Bernd Hayo & Andreas Landmann & Bjoern Vollan, 2023. "A Storm Between Two Waves: Recovery Processes, Social Dynamics, and Heterogeneous Effects of Typhoon Haiyan on Social Preferences," MAGKS Papers on Economics 202319, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung).
    13. Wen, Sha & Zou, Hong & Xu, Hongwei, 2021. "What doesn't kill you makes you “smarter”: The long-term association between exposure to epidemic and cognition," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 291(C).
    14. Asadul Islam & C. Matthew Leister & Minhaj Mahmud & Paul A. Raschky, 2020. "Natural disaster and risk-sharing behavior: Evidence from rural Bangladesh," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 61(1), pages 67-99, August.
    15. Seong Hee Kim, 2021. "Changes in Social Trust: Evidence from East German Migrants," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 155(3), pages 959-981, June.
    16. Petrova, Kristina & Rosvold, Elisabeth L., 2024. "Mitigating the legacy of violence: Can flood relief improve people’s trust in government in conflict-affected areas? Evidence from Pakistan," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    17. Klein, Miriam & Wiens, Marcus & Schultmann, Frank, 2022. "Borderland resilience, willingness to help and trust–An empirical study of the French-German border area," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    18. Yusuke Matsuki & Shunsuke Managi, 2016. "The Impact Of Natural Disasters On Manufacturing: Plant-Level Analysis For The Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake," The Singapore Economic Review (SER), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 61(01), pages 1-22, March.
    19. Uslaner, Eric & yamamura, Eiji, 2016. "Disaster and political trust: The Japan Tsunami and Earthquake of 2011," MPRA Paper 70527, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Natural disasters; social capital; volunteer activities.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N35 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - Asia including Middle East
    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification

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