IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/tin/wpaper/20250024.html

Food prices and production in the aftermath of natural disasters: the case of Peru

Author

Listed:
  • Francisco Blasques

    (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and Tinbergen Institute)

  • Paolo Gorgi

    (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and Tinbergen Institute)

  • Siem Jan Koopman

    (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and Tinbergen Institute)

  • James Sampi

    (World Bank)

Abstract

We empirically investigate the economic impact of natural disasters on food prices and production. We address the key issues of data aggregation and counterfactual biases. Our data set consists of regional information on prices and production for fourteen food products in Peru. This granularity level of the data allows us to disentangle nominal from real effects, while we still can account for within-country differences. On the other hand, the random nature of intense rainfalls and droughts allows us to establish a natural counterfactual for each event by comparing between and within-regions. Our empirical results show that prices increase in the aftermath of disasters, while production strongly declines, which mask the price increases at the macroeconomic level. This is particularly apparent during extreme events. The supply channel turns out to be the main mechanism through which disasters affect prices. These effects are mostly heterogeneous. When conditioning on storage life-duration of the products, we find that prices of perishable products are affected by rainfalls only while those of semi-durable products by both rainfalls and droughts.

Suggested Citation

  • Francisco Blasques & Paolo Gorgi & Siem Jan Koopman & James Sampi, 2025. "Food prices and production in the aftermath of natural disasters: the case of Peru," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 25-024/III, Tinbergen Institute.
    • Handle: RePEc:tin:wpaper:20250024
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://papers.tinbergen.nl/25024.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Toshichika Iizumi & Jing-Jia Luo & Andrew J. Challinor & Gen Sakurai & Masayuki Yokozawa & Hirofumi Sakuma & Molly E. Brown & Toshio Yamagata, 2014. "Impacts of El Niño Southern Oscillation on the global yields of major crops," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 5(1), pages 1-7, September.
    2. Thomas Fomby & Yuki Ikeda & Norman V. Loayza, 2013. "The Growth Aftermath Of Natural Disasters," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(3), pages 412-434, April.
    3. Chie Hanaoka & Hitoshi Shigeoka & Yasutora Watanabe, 2018. "Do Risk Preferences Change? Evidence from the Great East Japan Earthquake," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 10(2), pages 298-330, April.
    4. Floris T. Zoutman & Evelina Gavrilova & Arnt O. Hopland, 2018. "Estimating Both Supply and Demand Elasticities Using Variation in a Single Tax Rate," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 86(2), pages 763-771, March.
    5. Corey Lesk & Pedram Rowhani & Navin Ramankutty, 2016. "Influence of extreme weather disasters on global crop production," Nature, Nature, vol. 529(7584), pages 84-87, January.
    6. Alberto Cavallo & Eduardo Cavallo & Roberto Rigobon, 2014. "Prices and Supply Disruptions during Natural Disasters," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 60(S2), pages 449-471, November.
    7. Klomp, Jeroen, 2020. "Do natural disasters affect monetary policy? A quasi-experiment of earthquakes," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    8. Dorosh, Paul A. & Kennedy, Adam & Torero, Máximo, 2016. "El Niño and cereal production shortfalls: Policies for resilience and food security in 2016 and beyond," Policy briefs 978-089629-988-7, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    9. Lutz Kilian, 2009. "Not All Oil Price Shocks Are Alike: Disentangling Demand and Supply Shocks in the Crude Oil Market," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(3), pages 1053-1069, June.
    10. W J Wouter Botzen & Olivier Deschenes & Mark Sanders, 2019. "The Economic Impacts of Natural Disasters: A Review of Models and Empirical Studies," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 13(2), pages 167-188.
    11. Akesaka, Mika, 2019. "Change in time preferences: Evidence from the Great East Japan Earthquake," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 239-245.
    12. Damania, R. & Desbureaux, S. & Zaveri, E., 2020. "Does rainfall matter for economic growth? Evidence from global sub-national data (1990–2014)," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    13. Choi, In, 2001. "Unit root tests for panel data," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 20(2), pages 249-272, April.
    14. Richard S. J. Tol, 2014. "Correction and Update: The Economic Effects of Climate Change," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 28(2), pages 221-226, Spring.
    15. Eduardo Cavallo & Sebastian Galiani & Ilan Noy & Juan Pantano, 2013. "Catastrophic Natural Disasters and Economic Growth," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 95(5), pages 1549-1561, December.
    16. Srivastava, V. K. & Dwivedi, T. D., 1979. "Estimation of seemingly unrelated regression equations : A brief survey," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 10(1), pages 15-32, April.
    17. Miles Parker, 2018. "The Impact of Disasters on Inflation," Economics of Disasters and Climate Change, Springer, vol. 2(1), pages 21-48, April.
    18. Salvador Barrios & Luisito Bertinelli & Eric Strobl, 2010. "Trends in Rainfall and Economic Growth in Africa: A Neglected Cause of the African Growth Tragedy," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 92(2), pages 350-366, May.
    19. repec:bla:revinw:v:60:y:2014:i::p:s449-s471 is not listed on IDEAS
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Cevat Giray Aksoy & Maxim Chupilkin & Zsoka Koczan & Alexander Plekhanov, 2025. "Unearthing the impact of earthquakes: A review of economic and social consequences," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 44(4), pages 1450-1471, September.
    2. William Ginn, 2022. "Climate Disasters and the Macroeconomy: Does State-Dependence Matter? Evidence for the US," Economics of Disasters and Climate Change, Springer, vol. 6(1), pages 141-161, March.
    3. Emmanuel Apergis & Nicholas Apergis, 2021. "The impact of COVID-19 on economic growth: evidence from a Bayesian Panel Vector Autoregressive (BPVAR) model," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(58), pages 6739-6751, December.
    4. Daher, Nabil, 2026. "Is growth at risk from natural disasters? Evidence from quantile local projections," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 243(C).
    5. Connor Reed & Weston Anderson & Andrew Kruczkiewicz & Jennifer Nakamura & Dominy Gallo & Richard Seager & Sonali Shukla McDermid, 2022. "The impact of flooding on food security across Africa," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 119(43), pages 2119399119-, October.
    6. Mensah, Edouard R. & Filipski, Mateusz J., 2022. "Saving for a rainy day: the impact of natural disasters on savings rates," 2022 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Anaheim, California 322266, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    7. Quy Ta & Yothin Jinjarak & Ilan Noy, 2022. "“How Do Shocks Affect International Reserves? A Quasi-Experiment of Earthquakes”," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 33(5), pages 945-971, November.
    8. Johar, Meliyanni & Johnston, David W. & Shields, Michael A. & Siminski, Peter & Stavrunova, Olena, 2022. "The economic impacts of direct natural disaster exposure," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 196(C), pages 26-39.
    9. Mensah, Edouard & Filipski, Mateusz, 2026. "Saving for a rainy day: The impact of storms on saving rates," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 239(C).
    10. Jeroen Klomp & John Sseruyange, 2021. "Earthquakes and Economic Outcomes: Does Central Bank Independence Matter?," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 32(2), pages 335-359, April.
    11. Nabil Daher, 2026. "Is growth at risk from natural disasters? Evidence from quantile local projections," Post-Print hal-05466345, HAL.
    12. Dino Collalti, 2024. "The Economic Dynamics After a Flood: Evidence from Satellite Data," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 87(9), pages 2401-2428, September.
    13. Chaitat Jirophat & Pym Manopimoke & Suparit Suwanik, 2022. "The Macroeconomic Effects of Climate Shocks in Thailand," PIER Discussion Papers 188, Puey Ungphakorn Institute for Economic Research.
    14. Alain N. Kabundi & Mr. Montfort Mlachila & Jiaxiong Yao, 2022. "How Persistent are Climate-Related Price Shocks? Implications for Monetary Policy," IMF Working Papers 2022/207, International Monetary Fund.
    15. Salvatore Di Falco & Ferdinand M Vieider, 2022. "Environmental Adaptation of Risk Preferences," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 132(648), pages 2737-2766.
    16. Franziska Piontek & Matthias Kalkuhl & Elmar Kriegler & Anselm Schultes & Marian Leimbach & Ottmar Edenhofer & Nico Bauer, 2019. "Economic Growth Effects of Alternative Climate Change Impact Channels in Economic Modeling," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 73(4), pages 1357-1385, August.
    17. Beirne, John & Dafermos, Yannis & Kriwoluzky, Alexander & Renzhi, Nuobu & Volz, Ulrich & Wittich, Jana, 2022. "Natural Disasters and Inflation in the Euro Area," VfS Annual Conference 2022 (Basel): Big Data in Economics 264132, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    18. Emanuel Moench & Robin Schaal, 2025. "The impact of extreme weather events on the term structure of sovereign debt," Working Papers 11088, South African Reserve Bank.
    19. John Beirne & Yannis Dafermos & Alexander Kriwoluzky & Nuobu Renzhi & Ulrich Volz & Jana Wittich, 2021. "The Effects of Natural Disasters on Price Stability in the Euro Area," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1981, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    20. Cao, Yan & Cheng, Sheng & Li, Xinran, 2024. "Co-movements between heterogeneous crude oil and food markets: Does temperature change really matter?," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 67(PB).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • C33 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models
    • E20 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - General (includes Measurement and Data)
    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:tin:wpaper:20250024. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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: Tinbergen Office +31 (0)10-4088900 (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/tinbenl.html .

    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.