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Consumption response to a natural disaster: Evidence of price and income shocks from Chennai flood

  • Sumit Agarwal
  • , Pulak Ghosh
  • , Huanhuan Zheng*
  • *Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Journal Publications and ReviewsRGC 21 - Publication in refereed journalpeer-review

Abstract

We utilize monthly individual-level financial data and item-level supermarket sales data to study how consumption responds to one of the costliest natural disasters in India. We find that consumption dropped by 11% during the disaster, 65% of which was recovered after the disaster. On average, consumption per capita dropped by $312 per year, which costs about 5% of the GDP. We also show that natural disasters depressed consumption through income shocks instead of price shocks. Consumers smooth consumption using credit card, banks loans and wealth in coping with the shocks. © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Original languageEnglish
Article number107323
Number of pages15
JournalEnergy Economics
Volume131
Online published18 Jan 2024
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Mar 2024
Externally publishedYes

Funding

Financial supports from Social Science Research Council (SSRC) and the Sustainable and Green Finance Institute (SGFIN) are gratefully acknowledged.

Research Keywords

  • Household finance
  • Income shocks
  • Natural disaster
  • Online shopping
  • Price shocks

Policy Impact

  • Cited in Policy Documents

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