IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecolec/v241y2026ics092180092500360x.html

The economic impact of Sargassum: Evidence from the Mexican coast

Author

Listed:
  • Schling, Maja
  • Guerrero Compeán, Roberto
  • Pazos, Nicolás
  • Bailey, Allison
  • Arkema, Katie
  • Ruckelshaus, Mary

Abstract

This paper assesses the economic impact of pelagic Sargassum seaweed washed ashore in tourism-heavy coastal zones in the Mexican State of Quintana Roo. We use a geographic information systems (GIS) dataset of monthly observations from 2016 to 2019 for 157 beach segments. The dataset comprises an innovative measure of Sargassum seaweed presence, remotely sensed nighttime light intensity as a proxy of economic growth, as well as information on key infrastructure, sociodemographic and beach characteristics. We perform an event study by applying a fixed-effects regression model that controls for general time trends and unobserved, time-invariant differences across observations. We estimate that the presence of Sargassum in a beach segment reduces nighttime light intensity by 17.5 %, representing an approximate 11.6 % decrease in gross local product. Our analysis finds significant lagged effects up until 12 months after Sargassum was detected that range between 5.9 % and 9.9 %. The estimated impacts are consistently significant and negative across numerous specifications, including an adjusted measurement of Sargassum and the consideration of potential spatial correlation across beach segments. These results highlight the considerable negative impacts of Sargassum on coastal economies and the need for public and private interventions to heighten economic resilience in coastal communities.

Suggested Citation

  • Schling, Maja & Guerrero Compeán, Roberto & Pazos, Nicolás & Bailey, Allison & Arkema, Katie & Ruckelshaus, Mary, 2026. "The economic impact of Sargassum: Evidence from the Mexican coast," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 241(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:241:y:2026:i:c:s092180092500360x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2025.108877
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S092180092500360X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2025.108877?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models
    • C52 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric Modeling - - - Model Evaluation, Validation, and Selection
    • N56 - Economic History - - Agriculture, Natural Resources, Environment and Extractive Industries - - - Latin America; Caribbean
    • O44 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Environment and Growth
    • Q56 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environment and Development; Environment and Trade; Sustainability; Environmental Accounts and Accounting; Environmental Equity; Population Growth
    • R11 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, and Changes
    • Z32 - Other Special Topics - - Tourism Economics - - - Tourism and Development

    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:eee:ecolec:v:241:y:2026:i:c:s092180092500360x. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolecon .

    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.