Can Openness Mitigate the Effects of Weather Fluctuations? Evidence from India’s Famine Era
A weakening dependence on rain-fed agriculture has been a hallmark of the economic transformation of countries throughout history. Rural citizens in developing countries today, however, remain highly exposed to fluctuations in the weather. This exposure affects the incomes these citizens earn...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
| Published: |
2011
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/64729 |
| _version_ | 1811076259489251328 |
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| author | Burgess, Robin Donaldson, David John |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Economics |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Economics Burgess, Robin Donaldson, David John |
| author_sort | Burgess, Robin |
| collection | MIT |
| description | A weakening dependence on rain-fed agriculture
has been a hallmark of the economic
transformation of countries throughout history.
Rural citizens in developing countries today,
however, remain highly exposed to fluctuations
in the weather. This exposure affects the
incomes these citizens earn and the prices of the
foods they eat. Recent work has documented
the significant mortality stress that rural households
face in times of adverse weather (Robin
Burgess, Olivier Deschenes, Dave Donaldson,
and Michael Greenstone 2009; Masayuki
Kudamatsu, Torsten Persson, and David
Stromberg 2009). Famines—times of acutely
low nominal agricultural income and acutely
high food prices—are an extreme manifestation
of this mapping from weather to death. Lilian
C. A. Knowles (1924) describes these events as
“agricultural lockouts” where both food supplies
and agricultural employment, on which the
bulk of the rural population depends, plummet.
The result is catastrophic, with widespread hunger
and loss of life. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T10:18:49Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/64729 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T10:18:49Z |
| publishDate | 2011 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/647292022-09-30T20:19:48Z Can Openness Mitigate the Effects of Weather Fluctuations? Evidence from India’s Famine Era Burgess, Robin Donaldson, David John Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Economics Donaldson, David John Donaldson, David John A weakening dependence on rain-fed agriculture has been a hallmark of the economic transformation of countries throughout history. Rural citizens in developing countries today, however, remain highly exposed to fluctuations in the weather. This exposure affects the incomes these citizens earn and the prices of the foods they eat. Recent work has documented the significant mortality stress that rural households face in times of adverse weather (Robin Burgess, Olivier Deschenes, Dave Donaldson, and Michael Greenstone 2009; Masayuki Kudamatsu, Torsten Persson, and David Stromberg 2009). Famines—times of acutely low nominal agricultural income and acutely high food prices—are an extreme manifestation of this mapping from weather to death. Lilian C. A. Knowles (1924) describes these events as “agricultural lockouts” where both food supplies and agricultural employment, on which the bulk of the rural population depends, plummet. The result is catastrophic, with widespread hunger and loss of life. Economic and Social Research Council (Great Britain) Great Britain. Dept. for International Development (Improving Institutions for Growth Reserach Programme Consortium) 2011-06-30T18:56:18Z 2011-06-30T18:56:18Z 2010-05 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 0002-8282 1944-7981 0065-812X http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/64729 Burgess, Robin, and Dave Donaldson. "Can Openness Mitigate the Effects of Weather Shocks? Evidence from India's Famine Era." American Economic Review (2010) 100(2): 449–53. en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1257/aer.100.2.449 American Economic Review Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 application/pdf Prof. Donaldson via Kate McNeill |
| spellingShingle | Burgess, Robin Donaldson, David John Can Openness Mitigate the Effects of Weather Fluctuations? Evidence from India’s Famine Era |
| title | Can Openness Mitigate the Effects of Weather Fluctuations? Evidence from India’s Famine Era |
| title_full | Can Openness Mitigate the Effects of Weather Fluctuations? Evidence from India’s Famine Era |
| title_fullStr | Can Openness Mitigate the Effects of Weather Fluctuations? Evidence from India’s Famine Era |
| title_full_unstemmed | Can Openness Mitigate the Effects of Weather Fluctuations? Evidence from India’s Famine Era |
| title_short | Can Openness Mitigate the Effects of Weather Fluctuations? Evidence from India’s Famine Era |
| title_sort | can openness mitigate the effects of weather fluctuations evidence from india s famine era |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/64729 |
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