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A Sunburnt Country: The Economic and Financial Impact of Drought on Rural and Regional Families in Australia in an Era of Climate Change

Author

Listed:
  • Ben Edwards

    (The Australian Institute of Family Studies)

  • Matthew Gray

    (The Australian Institute of Family Studies)

  • Boyd Hunter

    (The Australian National University)

Abstract

Australia is indeed a sunburnt country, and is arguably becoming increasingly sunburnt. If most climate predictions are correct, much of Australia will experience droughts even more often. This paper uses the Rural and Regional Families Survey to explore the economic and financial implications of drought in regional Australia. Drought has significant negative economic impacts, with large effects on the experience of financial hardship and deterioration in household financial position— especially for farmers and farm managers who reported that the current drought had reduced property output substantially. The study also identifies some heterogeneous patterns of mobility within many drought-affected households. It is important that policy makers understand the complex processes of adjustment that occur in times of drought in order to enable them to prepare for the changes that will take place if our worst fears about climate change are realised.

Suggested Citation

  • Ben Edwards & Matthew Gray & Boyd Hunter, 2009. "A Sunburnt Country: The Economic and Financial Impact of Drought on Rural and Regional Families in Australia in an Era of Climate Change," Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School, vol. 12(1), pages 108-131.
    • Handle: RePEc:ozl:journl:v:12:y:2009:i:1:p:108-131
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Bruce Chapman & Boyd Hunter, 2009. "Exploring Creative Appliances of Income Contingent Loans," Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School, vol. 12(2), pages 133-144.
    2. Lawes, R.A. & Kingwell, R.S., 2012. "A longitudinal examination of business performance indicators for drought-affected farms," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 106(1), pages 94-101.
    3. Huong Dinh & Ben Freyens & Anne Daly & Yogi Vidyattama, 2017. "Measuring Community Economic Resilience in Australia: Estimates of Recent Levels and Trends," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 132(3), pages 1217-1236, July.
    4. Boyd Hunter & Ben Edwards, 2011. "The impact of drought on carers," Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School, vol. 14(2), pages 199-214.
    5. Sahar Daghagh Yazd & Sarah Ann Wheeler & Alec Zuo, 2019. "Key Risk Factors Affecting Farmers’ Mental Health: A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(23), pages 1-23, December.
    6. Z. Whitman & T. Wilson & E. Seville & J. Vargo & J. Stevenson & H. Kachali & J. Cole, 2013. "Rural organizational impacts, mitigation strategies, and resilience to the 2010 Darfield earthquake, New Zealand," 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. 69(3), pages 1849-1875, December.
    7. Daghagh Yazd, Sahar & Wheeler, Sarah Ann & Zuo, Alec, 2020. "Understanding the impacts of water scarcity and socio-economic demographics on farmer mental health in the Murray-Darling Basin," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    8. Kingwell, Ross S. & Xayavong, Vilaphonh, 2017. "How drought affects the financial characteristics of Australian farm businesses," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 61(3), July.
    9. Sarah Ann Wheeler & Alec Zuo, 2017. "The impact of drought and water scarcity on irrigator farm exit intentions in the Murray–Darling Basin," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 61(3), pages 404-421, July.
    10. Sahar Daghagh Yazd & Sarah Ann Wheeler & Alec Zuo, 2019. "Exploring the Drivers of Irrigator Mental Health in the Murray–Darling Basin, Australia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(21), pages 1-15, November.
    11. Atifa Asghari & Yuriy Kuleshov & Andrew B. Watkins & Jessica Bhardwaj & Isabella Aitkenhead, 2021. "Improving drought resilience in Northern Murray-Darling Basin farming communities: Is forecast-based financing suitable?," 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. 109(1), pages 1221-1245, October.
    12. Ariel R. Belasen & Solomon W. Polachek, 2013. "Natural disasters and migration," Chapters, in: Amelie F. Constant & Klaus F. Zimmermann (ed.), International Handbook on the Economics of Migration, chapter 17, pages 309-330, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    13. Sarah Ann Wheeler & Ying Xu & Alec Zuo, 2020. "Modelling the climate, water and socio-economic drivers of farmer exit in the Murray-Darling Basin," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 158(3), pages 551-574, February.
    14. Pourzand, Farnaz & Noy, Ilan & Sağlam, Yiğit, 2020. "Droughts and farms’ financial performance: a farm‐level study in New Zealand," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 64(3), July.
    15. Sherren, Kate & Fischer, Joern & Fazey, Ioan, 2012. "Managing the grazing landscape: Insights for agricultural adaptation from a mid-drought photo-elicitation study in the Australian sheep-wheat belt," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 106(1), pages 72-83.
    16. Wheeler, Sarah Ann & Zuo, Alec & Bjornlund, Henning, 2014. "Investigating the delayed on-farm consequences of selling water entitlements in the Murray-Darling Basin," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 72-82.
    17. David A. Fleming‐Muñoz & Stuart Whitten & Graham D. Bonnett, 2023. "The economics of drought: A review of impacts and costs," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 67(4), pages 501-523, October.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Agricultural Labour Markets; Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity; Urban; Rural; and Regional Economics; Regional Migration; Regional Labour Markets; Population; Neighbourhood Characteristics;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J43 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Agricultural Labor Markets
    • R12 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity; Interregional Trade (economic geography)
    • R23 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population

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