Abstract:
Climate change is increasing the frequency of extreme weather events, but there is little evidence on how these affect households in low-income countries in the long term. For poor farm households in particular, an important question is how such shocks affect their livelihood decisions, which has implications for structural transformation and economic growth. We analyze how weather disasters affect household labor supply at different time scales through two empirical approaches based on massive flood shocks in Nigeria. Using several rounds of nationally-representative household panel surveys as well as primary data collection, the study will shed light on how psychological and cognitive mechanisms may combine with wealth mechanisms to determine the impacts of severe weather shocks on labor supply decisions of agricultural households. Results of this study will help inform government policies to strengthen economic resilience and livelihoods of the poor in the face of climate change and weather-related disasters.
