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Hiding behind the veil of ashes: Social capital in the wake of natural disasters

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  • Stephane, Victor

Abstract

This paper investigates the impact of natural disasters on social capital. By heterogeneously affecting people in a community, natural disasters create a temporary information asymmetry on their post-disaster income. Using an original dataset collected in rural Ecuador, we provide suggestive evidence that households use this asymmetric information to pretend to be poorer than they actually are, in order to escape from solidarity mechanisms in the aftermath of the shock. The magnitude of this effect decreases with the level of wealth inequality in the community and vanishes in the most unequal communities where bilateral cooperation is rather fostered.

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  • Stephane, Victor, 2021. "Hiding behind the veil of ashes: Social capital in the wake of natural disasters," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:145:y:2021:i:c:s0305750x21001303
    DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2021.105518
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Social capital; Moral hazard; Asymmetric information; Volcanic eruptions; Ecuador;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D71 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Social Choice; Clubs; Committees; Associations
    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming
    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design

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